Thursday, March 29, 2007

Here Come the Library Bounty Hunters


The folks who run the Bryan-College Station, Texas, public library system have decided that enough is enough. The system is losing so many books, CDs and DVDs to "forgetful" patrons and, even worse, to those who move to another city and take the items with them, that a collection agency has been hired to help with the problem.
According to Bryan Public Information Officer Jay Socol, the libraries levied $239,000 in fees and fines in 2006 but only collected about $45,750. He said $41,750 of the fees levied were waived.

"Our DVD collection has been heavily raided by individuals," Mounce said. "One family has a dozen DVD's checked out, and they moved and we cannot find them."

The collection agency follows a process to collect the fees. First, it sends a letter to the patron. If they do not respond, a second letter is sent. After the second letter, the agency calls the patron's home and tells them that they will report the overdue fees and materials to a credit reporting agency. If they still don't respond, a report will be made.

"They don't threaten the people; they are very polite and very friendly over the phone," Mounce said.

The agency, which works for dozens of libraries all over the country, charges $10 for each account it pursues and guarantees to customers that the fees it brings in will make the service budget-neutral.
I suspect that the inclusion of so many DVDs, CDs and audio books on library shelves has made the problem much worse than it used to be when only books were available. I know that some people simply misplace an item or two and then forget about even having them, but I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who deliberately keeps anything that belongs to a public library. I'm all for the idea of turning in a report to credit agencies if that's what it takes to get the attention of those having so little respect for their community.

4 comments:

  1. I think you're right that it's DVDs and CDs that attract the "forgetful." Another reason to stop turning libraries into entertainment centres.

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  2. Absolutely...it's all about BOOKS. I wish they would remember that more than they do.

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  3. I've always been a poor forgetful library patron and it's only until recently that I've returned to borrowing books from the library because of my bad habit. I'm resolved to begin returning stuff on time this time around.
    This could be proof of how much TV I watch, but am I the only one who thought of that Seinfeld episode in which Jerry is investigated by a library detective about a book he didn't turn in fifteen years ago. Funny episode. : )

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  4. Good luck, I hope they don't send a bounty hunter after you. :)

    I don't think I've ever seen an episode of Seinfeld that didn't make me laugh and that's kind of strange because I don't like his stand up routines at all. I'll have to find that episode because I don't think I've seen it yet.

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