What is Digg?103 Comments
- benjie, on 10/12/2007, -11/+63Ok, this is not a hack. I absolutely hate it when people call everyday, real-life tricks "hacks." Get out from in front of your computer and live a real life. Have you ever even been in a real library?
Go ahead, digg me down. - carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+54man, it's a real dick move to try and weasel your way out of a fine you agree to pay to an institution which archives and dispenses knowledge to anyone for free. and they only fine you because you're preventing someone else from obtaining the knowledge in whatever media you're holding onto longer than you said you would.
pay your fine and take the book back people, knowledge should be free. - finkployd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+34I don't think libraries make any money.
Most of the ones in my area have to close 2 days a week so they can stay open the other 5.
Support your local library. Donate the books you don't read or lend to others and when you have a fine... pay the fine. - hadiz, on 10/12/2007, -11/+42Seems like a lot of time wasted to get out of a relatively small fine. What is it typically, like 5 cents a day? Usually you can just renew the books you checked out online or over the phone. If you're too lazy not to do that, than you're probably too lazy to jump through all these hoops as well.
- fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25Why not just take the books back on time?
Sooner or later people need to accept consequences for their actions, or in this case inactions. - Lumiras, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20smart people
- AriaStar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20There'd have to be 824 books overdue at five cents per day to pay one library worker the federal minimum wage of $5.15 (unless it went up and I don't know about it). There's a reason libraries needs lots of volunteers. The late fees don't account for much, and those fees are the only money they directly make from borrowers. The rest comes from taxes, but the amount alloted to libraries isn't much, and many have to cut hours drastically and close a couple days per week.
- silverchrysalis, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18when i lived in michigan, we tried donating a sizable stack of books: up-to-date tech as well as good classic mysteries that weren't already on the shelves. they refused. they wouldn't tell us why, either. i was always under the impression that libraries were a community project but it turns out some board has to approve every single title that hits those shelves.
so much for freedom of speech. - elsewhen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11my favorite step is step 6: "Donate the money you saved back to the library."
- quamsta, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14As a former librarian, this is saddens me. Pay your fines, please! Libraries are a cornerstone of democracy. Don't piss on that.
- rnwen2750, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11... Turn in your books on time?
- illuminatedwax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10or "How to be an ***** and make a librarian deal with a lot of extra work because you're a lazy *****"
- codplay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9str3ama - your point about different fine costs is of course true, but I would say that your comment about not needing libraries is incorrect.
Although the web is a great place, even with everything that I can find here, it is only a basic machine. If I want to really go and work on a project, I will find out which materials I need online, and then go use the library. Not only do you get books that are still in copyright, but you also can look at paper instead of a computer screen. I know I spend enough time already in front of the screen. If I can break that up by having the book in front of me, I will.
Anyways, regarding the whole hack - it is a bit cheap, and wouldn't work at my local libraries anyways as they have the book detectors at the entrance, with the drop-off box outside. No way of getting in/out with a book without setting the alarm off. - Lou3000, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12How to Avoid Library Fines: Take the book back on time. Ass.
- ISurfTooMuch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@silverchrysalis
You have to understand that libraries can't accept all books. It isn't that they don't want to, but they have to decide if those books have a meaningful place in their collection. They do this by writing a collection development policy that outlines what kind of books they want to acquire and what kind they don't want to acquire. Often times, space, or the lack of it, is a consideration. The tech books you wanted to donate may not have fit with the collection development goals of a public library, but a university library may have wanted them. I'm sorry that the librarian didn't tell you why the books were unsuitable. Sometimes people just don't communicate well, and that's unfortunate.
And BTW, as a rule, the library's board of trustees doesn't get involved in selecting books. What you may have been told was that a committee makes collection development decisions, and there might even be a group that looks at what specific books to acquire. The board is usually only involved in setting policy, not in the day-to-day operation of the library. That's the library director's job.
As for the article, you might get away with it once with one book, but don't make a practice of it, and don't try it with more than a single book. Librarians know that trick, and it's pretty rare to have a book reshelved without being checked back in, and it's almost unheard of with multiple books. And ask yourself if it's ethical to try to cheat a library that's most likely already strapped for cash. You used its services and returned the book late. Do the right thing and pay the fine.
And consider donating to your library. That way, they can build a larger building and accept more books. - roberthead, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Besides being hopelessly lame, this is unethical, immoral, and most likely illegal fraud.
[sarcasm]
When your done, why not have lunch at Olive Garden and leave before they bring you the check and then swing by The Gap, pick a few things off the rack and "return" them?
[/sarcasm] - FalseProphecy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9I have 37 dollars in fines waiting for me when I go back. Thanks for telling me earlier.
- kelway, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Ask them if you can donate the $37 to them instead....
- megaton, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7God forbid you either:
A) Return the book on time, or
B) Stop trying to hustle one of the few Good Things(tm) left in the world - W00DR0W, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9I'd have to be a real ***** to hold up he line and make the librarian walk through the rows looking for the book.
And their's the good chance she realizes what I've done, I mean they scan each book when you give it to them, there isn't much room for error. - sciencebase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Hear, hear. Pay the fines. Call it a charitable donation. Borrow more books. Read them from cover to cover.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6um...aria...what decade are you living in that you think that library fines are still 5 cents a day?
Do all men wear top hats in your time? - ISurfTooMuch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6As an up-and-coming librarian, I completely agree with you. Libraries are the great equalizers in terms of access to information, and the people who work there do the best they can to provide unfettered access to everyone. We sure aren't doing it to get rich.
I wonder if people here realize the extent to which librarians have gone to protect their ability to read what they want without government interference. When the FBI came calling with its Library Awareness Program, which was seeking to turn librarians into spies to see what people with foreign-sounding names were reading, the librarians told them to pound sand. When the Patriot Act passed, librarians began to destroy patron borrowing records so that, should the government come calling, there will be no records to turn over.
Yet, some people still want to cheat the libraries out of money they desperately need to survive. - radioactive21, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Just pay the fines for goodness sake. The library charges like 25 cents a day past due. If you're even 1 week late its just a $1.50 this goes towards improving the library and buying more books. It is in essence a donation. I have paid many ah library fine, and I look at it as a force donation.
- rnwen2750, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7It is sad that libraries are so forlorn these days when people will pay upwards of 80$ a pop to see trucks speeding around a track.
- ss1958, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5What's next? A "hack" about how to steal from old ladies?
- th3dougler, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6did anyone else read: "How To Avoid Library Fires"
- fiveoaks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Don't be a dick. The library is a fundamental cornerstone of free societies, an almost always underfunded cornerstone, and cannot afford your dickery. Instead of shirking your fines, why don't you just burn the books, you truth-hating Nazis!
- wesjanson2307, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8OR... You could just pay the fine... It amazes me how far some people will go to save a buck...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Honestly ... I can't help wonder why people buy books when there are libraries that, if they don't have them available already, will put in an order for you.
You can spend $17 on "The World is Flat" and only read it once... I have no problem reserving library books online and picking them up. - LiveFastDieOld, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Why not just blow up the library?
- robzr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What an ***** thing to do. I can't wait for part 2 - "How to get free books from library - Just stuff them down your pants. How to avoid: strip search patrons". Grow up you losers. If you can't afford the whopping $.05 per day fines then turn your library books in on time so other people can use the books too.
- elsewhen, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8@hadiz... despite phone renewals, i bet libraries still make pretty good money on late fees. i thinkthis hack is intended to be used _after_ you messed up (not planned in advance of the due date)
- sanderscm2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I like how the word hack has just become a means of doing anything for free
- str3ama, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I took out a whole bunch of books a long while back, probably worth more then $500 maybe, I temporarily moved and had forgot to return the books. When I realized I hadn't returned the books I checked to see if I have a fine (and it was something like $35+ dollars - it had only been a month or something)..I eventually moved back like 3-4 years after, and when I went to the library my fine wasn't in the system anymore lol. Basically it was between the time of the mid 90s that I had the fine, and in the 2000s they renovated their system so I'm guessing someone forgot to transfer my very "old" fines and I basically got a new card with the same info but without any fines.
The uber-cheat if you will - I'm hoping they have some sort of library amnesty so that I can return the book. - eighties, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4This would probably work fine, unless before they contact you for overdue books they make sure that the books aren't already on the shelves... since this is obviously not the first time that someone had the bright idea of saying "they were there all along!".
- Scatropolis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I work at a library and we stopped collecting fines because it ended up costing us more to get people to pay the fines than collected. After a couple months or so we just charge them the price of replacing the book.
- siszam, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Some places actually jail you for having large outstanding fees or for not returning books. Google it if you don't believe me. Why not be an honest person because it's the right thing to do?
- gibler, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Heh at High School we used to get books out under other peoples names. Such books used to have "embarrassing" subjects such as sex education, then we would re-shelve them. Later on, there used to be read out a list of overdue books at class. The poor victim would then have to go into the library and explain themselves/find the book.
The problem with the article is that if your book is very overdue, the librarians probably go and check the stack themselves..... - macksmack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As someone who works in a library, yes this will work, but please do not do it. Fines are there for a reason. That reason is to get you to bring back your books. It's really for the good of everyone. Like stoplights, if one person just went whenever they wanted, it would not be any fun for the rest of us. So take back your books when you're supposed to so everyone gets a turn. And also because it pays my salary.
- Fhionnlaoch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I just renew over the internet when I take out a tonne of books for a paper. Otherwise I don't use the library.
- Flashman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There were RFIDs in the books, and the scanners would deactivate them immediately after a successful barcode scan. If you tried to walk out with an non-zapped book, the gates wouldn't open and an alarm would sound.
Don't underestimate the drive to steal - many students paying thousands of dollars for tuition somehow thought this was the best way to get ahead... and to sabotage their classmates' chances. - Rfriaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I love to own books. I suppose I just enjoy collecting the things that I like, though it's not entirely irrational. I also like having the book there to re-read and reference, especially as I'm in college and I often have to refer back to other texts in papers. I take the same stockpile-ish approach to music (which admittedly is slightly different), but not so much to movies. Hmm.
- sax1johno, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I believe this exact technique was used in an episode of Married with Children, in which Al Bundy owes something like $100,000+ for a library book he checked out in elementary school.
I thought it was kinda funny as a joke in the show, but in real life is sneaky and dishonest. Not to mention, it ruins the service for everyone else. If your books are late, just pay the damn fine and be done with it. - pyrophire, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3How about you just return ***** when its due and not be a dumbass about it.
- j00b, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I love the library. They let me borrow a ton of DVDs. Which makes it easy to make copies of stuff I "already" own.
- ISurfTooMuch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Hate to tell you, but you aren't getting out of that one. You either have a bunch of books out, in which case no one is going to believe that all of them were reshelved without being checked back in, or you have one book that's been out a very long time, in which case someone has already been looking for it.
You'd better be taking some cash with you. - brook011, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No offense, but in most public libraries, the fines go back into the libraries to support a more complete library. At my college, our library late fees pay for most of the stuff that the school would otherwise not have. The fines suck but I don't usually feel bad in paying. It's not like police where there are quotas and such and the money rarely goes back into bettering the system. Pay the damn fines.
- onetoad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'm guessing you never saw that Seinfeld episode with the library cop. :o)
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4silver...NTOHING to do wit hfreedom of speech.
Holy ***** 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. -
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