[Michlib-l] Patron Payoff-

[Miriam Andrus]

We have an interesting predicament at the Big Rapids Community Library. We have a patron who moved and lost 3 audiobooks. We have charged her for the lost items and eventually she was sent to collections. She contacted the library and being unemployed, she has asked if she can work off the fine. She just graduated from college and is job hunting, hence she has no money to pay the fine. I approached my board with her request and they asked me to poll the group of libraries to see what your thoughts are and if anyone has ever dealt with this kind of a situation.
      I see that we have two choices.
      Either she doesn't and can't pay the fine so it sits on her account perpetually (which really does us no good or her for that matter)
      We let her volunteer to pay off her fine (this opens the flood gates for other people to do the same thing, also not good for us)

We could of course waive the fine but that also opens a flood gate. Also, I should mention she moved out of our service area and still wants to settle her account.

So we are stuck. Any wisdom from the group would be appreciated.
Thank you,

-Miriam Andrus, Director
Big Rapids Community Library

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