Hi Claire,

Great post! I agree with a lot of what you’ve written here. The library I work in has gone through many phases of late fee practices. We generally don’t charge late fees for our own books, but because we’re an academic library we have high interlibrary loan use. That’s usually when we get into sticky territory, because other libraries will charge us for late or lost books. We used to eat the cost, but it became a big strain on our budget. It’s tough to navigate!

With some libraries in our consortium, we’ve reach an agreement that if users are willing to replace a book they’ve lost, then there is no fee charged. It’s not perfect, but we’ve found many users are happy with the alternative. It’s often cheaper to simply replace a book than pay fees (which can really add up!).

Thanks again for posting! I really enjoyed reading what you shared, and the fun follow-along photos.

Claire, great topic to post about (and some great thoughts!) Like Diamond’s consortium, the public library cooperative I work in has gotten rid of all fees, except for damaged and lost items. In your conclusion, you mention incentives and rewards, instead of fines, for those who turn materials on time. What do you think that would look like? I was thinking maybe a sort of automated punch card system at book returns. You get a card punch for each trip that you return materials on time and, after so many pumches, you get a prize. Maybe a coupon(s) to local businesses?

@claireburke I love this post! I also love the idea of giving rewards for returning books early or on time, instead of punishing for being late. There should also be rewards for those who may not have returned the book, but rechecked it out in the proper way and in timely fashion – because not everyone reads at the same speed. I love many of the e-book library apps, as they automatically return for you and also give you several warnings when it’s about to be returned.

@claireburke. Great pics! 🧛‍♀️ I am enjoying a run on horror films right now… Monday night was Longlegs and last night I started Oddity. Boith are very well done. Thanks for your sharing here. Welcome to #hyperlib!

@claireburke I am giving The Blackcoat’s Daughter a try — from the director of Longlegs (which I can’t get out of my head).

I also love Halloween. My wife and I have been sneaking out the decorations earlier and earlier every year. She’s was more of a horror kid than I was, I was too scared, but I’ve come to really love the genre. Mostly movies, mostly older moodier ones. I’m currently finishing up a set of folk horror movies. I have started trying to read at least one or two horror novels or collections during the Halloween season too though. Last year I got through some Thomas Ligotti and finally read some Clive Barker. I’d love to read more contemprary or lesser known writers too though, but it’s hard to know where to start So, if you have any recommedations!

Your work also sounds really interesting. Thought it can be challenging at times, for a variety of reasons often unrelated to the individuals or groups you’re direclty assisting, I’ve found working with special needs communities to be the most rewarding and interesting.

Hey @louis
what folk horror movies have you been watching? That’s one of my fave genres, I really enjoy the original Wicker Man with Christopher Lee and The Witch. I’ve never read Thomas Ligotti and have only seen Hellraiser by Clive Barker, but liked it a lot.
The main horror writer I enjoy is Stephen King, but if you dabble in manga, Junji Ito creates some amazing stories and visuals. The book Hell House by Richard Matheson had me keeping the lights on at night when I’d read it.
Yeah, for sure I enjoy my job and have seen the kids I work with grow so much over the years I’ve known them; I definitely am clocked out by the end of the day, but in a good way, if that makes sense.