A year ago, I rented a handful of books, some books for research for my college courses. When that spring semester was over, I returned my books thinking that I returned all of them but apparently I forgot one and apparently the library personnel did not tell me, which I know is not their responsibility to do so, right? So the summer goes by (approx. 3 months later) and I get a mail from a collection agency asking for $75 bucks for the missing book. =( At that time I really did not even know I didn't return a book, but I searched all over and found it, went to the library, and worked it out with them. I asked them if they had my phone and email address all this time and they said yes. I asked them if they give courtesy reminders to their customers about these things and they said yes. So I asked them how come I never received a courtesy reminder within the last 3 months and the person who helped me said, "Oh, that's just a courtesy reminder...." and then says nothing else. HUH??? I guess the person was implying that they don't have to send out courtesy reminders to everyone in my situation. Fine. Anyway, I got my fee lowered and returned the book, but a year later I'm still trying to figure out if the collection agency actually cleared my fee in their records...
Three weeks ago I was returning yet another handful of books for college course projects. This time I made sure that I had all my books. I wanted to check out some of the books again because I was still finishing up a project. However, the lady who helped me told me that I couldn't check out half of my books again because I cannot check out the same books more than two times in a row. Really? I've checked these books out over 3 times in a row and nobody gave me a problem. She told me that I could check them out again but I would have to wait 24 hours. I asked her if it's OK if she could reserve them for me and I will be back in 24 hours but she said no because these books have to be open to the public to check out. So, I figured that if I come back in 24 hours, I would have to locate all the books where I found them, which is fine because they were all in one location. I wrote down all the names of the books that I needed to check out again and then I left.
I returned the next day and went straight to where the books should be located. I found none of them. I then went to the front desk and asked for help. The lady who helped me the day before was not there so another person helped me. She went to look for my books in the office, returned without finding them, and then
directed me to the middle table where another librarian can assist me. I told another librarian about my situation, he told me that the system shows the books are available, so he wrote me the codes for the books.The codes lead me to the shelves I was looking at when I first came back, so I double checked if the books were there and they weren't. The librarian who gave me the codes went in the office to look for my books as well and wasn't successful. I just returned these books yesterday so I know they have to be somewhere in this library. Unfortunately I was told that the books shall be on the shelves in the next week. Next week? My project was due this week... *Sighhhh I totally lost a chunk of my references for this project but I think it was the missing principles that bothered me more. First, you won't let me check out the books. Second, you won't let me reserve the books. Third, you tell me to come back in 24 hours to re-check the books. I abide the library policy, return 24 hours later, and the librarians have no clue where the books can be found?
Here's the last thing that happened: Two days ago I was yet again returning books at this library. Since I checked out a lot of books, I asked whoever was helping me to check my records to make sure I don't have fees and late books. The person who helped me told me my record is "fine". Two days later I found a book and went to return it and was hit with a late fee. Okay, I understand that it is totally my responsibility to return my books on time if I don't want late fees, but I personally asked the person who helped me about my record and he gave me an inaccurate response and left me under the impression that I did not have any missing books. If I didn't find the book until this summer ends, I'm sure I would get another mail from the collection agency!!!
So the moral of the story is everyone needs to be responsible for themselves, that includes the library not just the customers. I recommend that this library stands by its words. If you tell a customer that he/she can come back in 24 hours to check out books, please have a good explanation why the books are not there when the person returns. If a person ask about his/her library record, please give accurate answers. As for the customers, make sure you turn in your books on time!!! read more