[Michlib-l] Patron Payoff-

[SAR Kerry Fountain]

All-- I agree, I would waive the fine without volunteer compensation. 

Meaghan: I actually had a patron who attempted to barter her $50 fine with a 
cheesecake.  I was very, very new to my position and it put me in such a 
strange position!  I decided to base my decisions on....would I do this for 
all patrons out there?  Since the answer was no, I refused the barter.  
Thankfully no one else has attempted anything else like this!


Kerry Fountain, Director
Saranac Public Library 616-642-9146
Clarksville Area Library  616-693-1001
sarkf at llcoop.org

---------- Original Message -----------
From: Meaghan Battle <M.Battle at troymi.gov>
To: "'Kevin King'" <KevinK at kpl.gov>, "'Miriam Andrus'" 
<mandrus at bigrapids.lib.mi.us>, "'Michlib-L	(michlib-l at mcls.org)'" 
<michlib-l at mcls.org>
Sent: Fri, 2 Sep 2016 18:27:48 +0000
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] Patron Payoff-

> I agree with Kevin.  In addition, bartering volunteer hours for 
> fines is also a slippery slope that other patrons will expect to be 
> able to do as well.  And that is one step shy of accepting payment 
> in the form of goods, like quilts or livestock. (Just stretching the 
> thought out to its illogical conclusion, which is something patrons 
> may do too.)
> 
> Best of luck resolving your issue! :-)
> 
> --Meaghan
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org [mailto:michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org] 
> On Behalf Of Kevin King Sent: Friday, September 02, 2016 2:24 PM To: 
> Miriam Andrus <mandrus at bigrapids.lib.mi.us>; Michlib-L (michlib-
> l at mcls.org) <michlib-l at mcls.org> Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] Patron 
> Payoff-
> 
> Just waive the fine. The time and effort going into the training to 
> let her work it off probably costs more.
> 
> Kevin King
> Kalamazoo Public Library
> 
> Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> 
> On Fri, Sep 2, 2016 at 2:02 PM -0400, "Miriam Andrus" 
> <mandrus at bigrapids.lib.mi.us<mailto:mandrus at bigrapids.lib.mi.us>> wrote:
> 
> 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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------- End of Original Message -------