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But how do you keep people from abusing the service? When there are no consequences people tend to abuse it. I used to buy books with the idea that eventually

But how do you keep people from abusing the service? When there are no consequences people tend to abuse it. I used to buy books with the idea that eventually I would read them. I have a bookcase of books that I've yet to read but every time I borrow a book from the library I read it within the allotted time. To me fines and deadlines are a nice nudge to read the book.

eesmith 7y ago
The article says there can be consequences. > Under Chicago Public Library’s new policy, a checked out item will automatically be renewed 15 times as long as there are no holds on it. Afterwards, the item will be marked lost, and the library will charge the borrower its market value, though charges will be cleared as long as the borrower returns it.
- xiii1408 7y ago
  Seems totally reasonable, although perhaps 15 times seems a bit generous. After the book's due, return the book, or else you can't check out any new ones.
- panarky 7y ago
  This is all well and good if nobody else wants the book. But if I check out a book, and you place a hold on it, and I fail to return it, that's not OK. Now you don't know whether to wait for the book to be returned, or to just go buy it because I can't get around to returning it.
  - stuaxo 7y ago
    I'm guessing once it is marked as lost the library may re-buy it.
    - eigenvector 7y ago
      A lot of books in libraries can't be repurchased easily. Personally, I've had two books I've placed on hold turn up lost recently and they're both out of print. Considering both books are over $300 on used book sites, I rather doubt that they were lost.
      - eesmith 7y ago
        I used ILL to read a copy of Neal Stephenson's "The Big U" before it was reprinted, when used copies were going for $100s on eBay. Bear in mind though that most library books can be repurchased easily, and sales like this are independent of late fines, so doesn't affect the issue at hand.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- romwell 7y ago
  That was the policy in my university library (Texas A&M). It works great. The only thing that would be awesome on top of that is the ability to get a notification when someone wants to check out the book that I'm holding.
  - eesmith 7y ago
    Like a Texas A&M's recall request? - https://library.tamu.edu/services/service_request_forms/recall_request https://library.tamu.edu/services/service_request_forms/reca...
thrwn_frthr_awy 7y ago
Did you read the article? There are consequences, they just don’t involve fines accruing over time. If your grift is to take a book from the library in the city you live in and never return it, I don’t think you are going get very far. I live in a city that got rid of fines a couple years ago after they were collecting about seventy cents for ever dollar they spent trying to collect fines. For some reason people really want this to be a bad idea and I’m not sure why.
- techsupporter 7y ago
  > For some reason people really want this to be a bad idea and I’m not sure why. We just voted on a library levy renewal in Seattle and the (comparatively very small) part of the levy that would pay to remove library fines was basically all anyone talked about. A small chunk of the talking points centered around whether fines should be a deterrent or if they have a purpose. But the majority? Boiled down to some variant of "people will get away with stealing library books" / "what if homeless people get free books and aren't punished for not being like the rest of us and returning books?" I come down on "library fines are not beneficial to what libraries are supposed to do," for what it's worth, and voted yes on the levy in large part so that fines would be done away with.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
pro8ndi 7y ago
This is more like a change in how loss is valued: the person is charged for a copy of the book. Not a dollar a day or some arbitrary value to satisfy social impulse for helicopter parenting the masses. It ties the “fine” to the value of the asset and stops bothering

eesmith 7y ago

The article says there can be consequences. > Under Chicago Public Library’s new policy, a checked out item will automatically be renewed 15 times as long as there are no holds on it. Afterwards, the item will be marked lost, and the library will charge the borrower its market value, though charges will be cleared as long as the borrower returns it.

xiii1408 7y ago
Seems totally reasonable, although perhaps 15 times seems a bit generous. After the book's due, return the book, or else you can't check out any new ones.
panarky 7y ago
This is all well and good if nobody else wants the book. But if I check out a book, and you place a hold on it, and I fail to return it, that's not OK. Now you don't know whether to wait for the book to be returned, or to just go buy it because I can't get around to returning it.
- stuaxo 7y ago
  I'm guessing once it is marked as lost the library may re-buy it.
  - eigenvector 7y ago
    A lot of books in libraries can't be repurchased easily. Personally, I've had two books I've placed on hold turn up lost recently and they're both out of print. Considering both books are over $300 on used book sites, I rather doubt that they were lost.
    - eesmith 7y ago
      I used ILL to read a copy of Neal Stephenson's "The Big U" before it was reprinted, when used copies were going for $100s on eBay. Bear in mind though that most library books can be repurchased easily, and sales like this are independent of late fines, so doesn't affect the issue at hand.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
romwell 7y ago
That was the policy in my university library (Texas A&M). It works great. The only thing that would be awesome on top of that is the ability to get a notification when someone wants to check out the book that I'm holding.
- eesmith 7y ago
  Like a Texas A&M's recall request? - https://library.tamu.edu/services/service_request_forms/recall_request https://library.tamu.edu/services/service_request_forms/reca...

thrwn_frthr_awy 7y ago

Did you read the article? There are consequences, they just don’t involve fines accruing over time. If your grift is to take a book from the library in the city you live in and never return it, I don’t think you are going get very far. I live in a city that got rid of fines a couple years ago after they were collecting about seventy cents for ever dollar they spent trying to collect fines. For some reason people really want this to be a bad idea and I’m not sure why.

techsupporter 7y ago
> For some reason people really want this to be a bad idea and I’m not sure why. We just voted on a library levy renewal in Seattle and the (comparatively very small) part of the levy that would pay to remove library fines was basically all anyone talked about. A small chunk of the talking points centered around whether fines should be a deterrent or if they have a purpose. But the majority? Boiled down to some variant of "people will get away with stealing library books" / "what if homeless people get free books and aren't punished for not being like the rest of us and returning books?" I come down on "library fines are not beneficial to what libraries are supposed to do," for what it's worth, and voted yes on the levy in large part so that fines would be done away with.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

pro8ndi 7y ago

This is more like a change in how loss is valued: the person is charged for a copy of the book. Not a dollar a day or some arbitrary value to satisfy social impulse for helicopter parenting the masses. It ties the “fine” to the value of the asset and stops bothering