wisegeek.com— If you are one of the few people who still uses the library, here is a cool hack to avoid paying fines for late books.
Apr 30, 2007View in Crawl 4
silver...NTOHING to do wit hfreedom of speech.Holy f**king christ people. Just STOP bitching about freedom of speech altogether . Because 99.999% of the time it is brought up on Digg, it has nothing to do with freedom of speech.
You know, I considered this option over a Coke and it really is quite clever. It's a fantastic way to get out of a library late fee, although like you said: no guarantees.
Or just renew the book onlne. Most libraries let you do this once or twice. If you still can't finish the book after two renewal periods, maybe you need to work on your reading skills.
When I worked at a library, we didn't call this a "hack". We called it an attempt to cheat your way out of a fine that will get you banned from the library.It's kind of like how most business fires are arsons caused by the owner for the insurance fire. Trying to cheat the library like this happens much, much more often than a clerk misses some books on check-in. When a clerk does miss items on check in, it's nearly always a single item that was overlooked or a whole shelf of items he/she thought was already checked in. It will raise the most suspicion if all the books you checked out happen to be the only ones that were missed on check in.Do it once and they would put a note on your record. Do it again and your card will be suspended for a year. Oh, and you'd still have to pay the fine before you could use your card again. Just pay the five cents per day. It's much easier and more honest. By the way, most libraries will still let you check out books even if you have fines up to a certain amount (at our library it was $10, the maximum fine for two overdue books)
Department heads (and associated committees) typically decide what goes on the shelves. Our library never refused donations. If there wasn't room for them in the collection, we would keep them for the annual book sale fundraiser. We would sell stuff coming out of the collection as well as donations that just didn't fit.
I have to say that it doesn't surprise me that humanity is looking for yet another way to be unaccountable in life for their own personal actions. To suggest sticking a past due book back on a shelf to avoid paying a fine is nothing less then stealing from an establishment. It lacks morals, integrity, and accountability. While sticking a book back on the shelf may work one or two times for the waiving of library fines, it will not continue. Most libraries, even the most antiquated in technology have a system where an account is flagged, thus, highlighting a repeated behavior to library staff. As a visiting patron I would hate to be taken off the "good graces" list for fines that usually do not amount to very much, by pulling a deceitful, manipulative act as the one suggested. Honesty in my book is still the best policy. Most libraries will work with a patrons who demonstrate honest admirable qualities. Why hang yourself if it isn't necessary? Libraries are in the business of helping people not fighting “fine” issues with them. Without libraries people would be purchasing books instead of paying a minuscule avoidable late fine on borrowed materials that start out as free.
Closed AccountMay 1, 2007
silver...NTOHING to do wit hfreedom of speech.Holy f**king christ people. Just STOP bitching about freedom of speech altogether . Because 99.999% of the time it is brought up on Digg, it has nothing to do with freedom of speech.
kelwayMay 1, 2007
You know, I considered this option over a Coke and it really is quite clever. It's a fantastic way to get out of a library late fee, although like you said: no guarantees.
ryebryeMay 1, 2007
Or just renew the book onlne. Most libraries let you do this once or twice. If you still can't finish the book after two renewal periods, maybe you need to work on your reading skills.
adamwhoMay 1, 2007
Another "Hack:Go to your libraries website and renew the book.
aduzikMay 1, 2007
When I worked at a library, we didn't call this a "hack". We called it an attempt to cheat your way out of a fine that will get you banned from the library.It's kind of like how most business fires are arsons caused by the owner for the insurance fire. Trying to cheat the library like this happens much, much more often than a clerk misses some books on check-in. When a clerk does miss items on check in, it's nearly always a single item that was overlooked or a whole shelf of items he/she thought was already checked in. It will raise the most suspicion if all the books you checked out happen to be the only ones that were missed on check in.Do it once and they would put a note on your record. Do it again and your card will be suspended for a year. Oh, and you'd still have to pay the fine before you could use your card again. Just pay the five cents per day. It's much easier and more honest. By the way, most libraries will still let you check out books even if you have fines up to a certain amount (at our library it was $10, the maximum fine for two overdue books)
aduzikMay 1, 2007
Department heads (and associated committees) typically decide what goes on the shelves. Our library never refused donations. If there wasn't room for them in the collection, we would keep them for the annual book sale fundraiser. We would sell stuff coming out of the collection as well as donations that just didn't fit.
lib319May 2, 2007
yep, we have that too.
chambersixMay 14, 2007
I have to say that it doesn't surprise me that humanity is looking for yet another way to be unaccountable in life for their own personal actions. To suggest sticking a past due book back on a shelf to avoid paying a fine is nothing less then stealing from an establishment. It lacks morals, integrity, and accountability. While sticking a book back on the shelf may work one or two times for the waiving of library fines, it will not continue. Most libraries, even the most antiquated in technology have a system where an account is flagged, thus, highlighting a repeated behavior to library staff. As a visiting patron I would hate to be taken off the "good graces" list for fines that usually do not amount to very much, by pulling a deceitful, manipulative act as the one suggested. Honesty in my book is still the best policy. Most libraries will work with a patrons who demonstrate honest admirable qualities. Why hang yourself if it isn't necessary? Libraries are in the business of helping people not fighting “fine” issues with them. Without libraries people would be purchasing books instead of paying a minuscule avoidable late fine on borrowed materials that start out as free.