Circulation Committee

C-Space

Aleph-16

Mission

Minutes

Reserves

Useful Links

What's New

Circulation Committee
cir-lib@mit.edu

Circulation Committee

C-Space

PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH FINES AND LOST BOOKS

GENERAL FINE INFORMATION

CHANGES TO THE FINE RATES (as of July 1, 2004) (*New*)

PAYING FINES IN ALEPH

ITEM IS LOST; DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE?

LOST BOOKS PROCEDURES FOR STUDENT WORKERS

FINE WAIVING POLICY

PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH DEPOSIT PAYMENTS AT CIRCULATION DESKS

 

GENERAL FINES INFORMATION

A fine begins accruing as soon as the book is overdue and the 4-day grace period has passed. It is charged to your account when the book is returned or renewed. If a 28 day loan book is more than 60 days overdue a replacement charge of $150, and any accrued fines will be billed to your library account. If you return the book, the replacement charge will be credited, and you will owe any late fees. Fines will continue to accrue until the item is returned.

If you do not return a RECALLED book by the date requested, your borrowing privileges will be automatically suspended with fines accruing $2.00/day. Fines for reserve books accrue after a 15-minute grace period at the rate of $3.00 per hour.

 

BORROWING PERIOD	FINE
28 DAYS	$.50/DAY*
14 DAYS	$.50/DAY*
7 DAYS	$.50/DAY*
3 DAYS	$1.00/DAY
1 DAY	$1.00/DAY
24 HOUR LOAN	$5.00/DAY
HOURLY LOANS	$3.00/HOUR*
RECALLED BOOK	$2.00/DAY
REPLACEMENT CHARGE	$150/ITEM*
*INCREASE AS OF 1ST JULY 2004

How do I pay fines?

You have 30 days to pay overdue fines at any circulation desk. After 30 days, the charges are transferred to the appropriate MIT accounting office. MIT staff and faculty and non-MIT users should note that all fines transferred to Accounts Receivable will be assessed a $5 handling charge. Paying fines at the library when returning overdue books allows you to avoid this surcharge.

 

CHANGES TO THE FINE RATES (as of July 1, 2004)

1) The 28 day loan fine of $.25/day will increase $.50/day

2) The reserve fine of $1.00/hour will increase to $3.00/hour

3) The Replacement charges for a book will go from $125 to $150. In addition, we will eliminate the $20 handling fee. If the item is truly lost and a replacement copy is substituted a $25 processing/rebinding fee will be assessed.

4) There will be no maximum cap on any of our fines (currently it is $20). Fines will continue to accrue until the item is returned.

5) Card readers will be installed (initially in Hayden and then the other divisionals) as part of a pilot program so that MIT students can pay their fines using their MIT ID.

 

PAYING FINES IN ALEPH

Fines begin accruing at the end of the grace period for overdue items and appear in the Fine column of the Loans tab (tab4). When the barcode for an overdue item is scanned in Return the system gives an alert message. Depending on how late the item is, the message will either be “item returned late” or “item has been declared lost; do you want to continue?”

Paying fines from the Cash Transactions tab: Charges not paid at a circulation desk or through the monthly billing process have a status of Not Paid. The total amount of these charges appears in the Sum field of the Global screen. If a borrower wishes to pay all or part of this amount, open the Cash Transactions tab. The default display for information in this tab is for Not Paid transactions; if other types of transactions appear in this tab, go to the User info option on the Menu bar, select “Filter cash list by” and choose “Non-paid transactions”.

To pay all non-paid transactions: Select the Pay Sum button. You’ll be asked to confirm that the borrower is paying the amount listed in the Sum to Pay field. When you confirm the payment amount, a notepad window opens. This is the borrower’s receipt; print a copy and give it to the borrower.

To pay a particular transaction or selected transactions: To pay a particular transaction, click to highlight it and select the Pay Selected button. To pay a continuous list of transactions, press Shift and click on the desired transactions. To pay non-continuous transactions, press Ctrl and click on the desired transactions. You’ll be asked to confirm that the borrower is paying the amount in the Sub total field. When you confirm the payment amount, a notepad window opens. This is the borrower’s receipt; print a copy and give it to the borrower.

 

ITEM IS LOST; DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE?

Click no, then Ctrl + b and scan barcode to bring up the item record. Click on borrower, click expand for borrower record then go to the Cash transactions tab.

If you find the item as a non-paid transaction waive the lost material – replacement and lost material - handling charges. Upon doing so a waive description box will appear. Note the reason for waiving the item and also initial and date it. (See fine waiving policy below.) Next, go into loans. Please note, before deleting the item it is important to check how much fines have accrued on this particular book. That amount will disappear once the item is deleted and will not be automatically assessed. Delete the loan from the patron's record and discharge the book one more time to activate any previous holds or to route it to the proper owning library. Staff will need to then create a “New” fine (the daily accruing fine listed in the right side of the Loan screen (tab4) and add it to the account.

If the item has a paid status you can check the book in. "This item is declared lost, do you wish to continue?" Click YES. This will create any overdue fees and credit the person's ALEPH account. Note:This does not credit the patron in either MITSIS/SAP. Please provide the person who handles SAP and MITSIS accounts for your unit with the name and MIT ID number of the patron as well as the bibliographic information (call number) so a credit can be applied. The $150 replacement cost will need to be credited in the borrower’s MIT accounting record.

Creating new fines: Fines for manual transactions or other reasons may be entered on a borrower’s record.

1) Click on the New button. If you are dealing with a barcoded item scan the barcode so the bib info will fill in.

Note: For non-barcoded items, a system generated barcode usually exists (for example, an unbound journal issue) which can be found by clicking on the arrow next to the barcode. You can then search either by title/ISSN(recommended) and find the specific issue you are looking for. If no system generated barcode can be found, then enter as much bibliographic information as possible in the "Description" field, followed by your initials and the date.

*New* Beginning 1st July 2004: Under "Cash Parameters" Click on the Black Arrow next to "Type" and select the category type:

03 Late Return {if it is just a “normal” overdue book (i.e. not recalled)}
40 Billing Charge (If someone has lost a book and brings in a replacement copy, they still should pay a $25.00 billing charge.)
41 Replacement Cost ($150 for lost items.)
50 Recall Late Return Fine {if the book is an overdue recalled book}
51 Rush Recall Late Return Fine {for those patrons who don’t return the books on time for Reserve Processing}
9997 Damaged Material {self-explanatory}

2) Make sure debit is selected
3) Enter a description of the charge in the Description field (for example, "recalled book due 05/01/03 rtd 05/03/03 cjph@rtc")
4) Enter the amount to be debited (in this example of a recalled book, $6.00)
5) Click OK.

Waiving fines: Select the desired transaction(s). Click the Waive button; you will be prompted to enter a comment for the “waive” (See Fine Waiving Policy below).

 

LOST BOOK PROCEDURES FOR STUDENT WORKERS:

When a patron returns a long overdue item that has been marked lost and there is only a student on duty, that student is to put aside any such books for a staff member to deal with when they come on duty.

They should click “no” at the prompt Item is lost; do you want to continue? and then leave the item(s) for a staff member with a note affixed.

In the branch libraries, often a student will be alone manning the library on the weekends or in the early evening when a staff member doesn’t come on duty until the next day. A patron may return long overdue items and they may wish to renew these items or return them and resolve their fines right at that moment. In these cases, the student will have to refer the patron to a staff member at a divisional library (Barker, Rotch, Hayden, or Dewey) They should call the circ desk of Barker, Rotch, Hayden or Dewey and ask to speak to a staff member. When they have reached a staff member at one of these desks, they must explain that they have a patron who needs to have their long overdue books checked in. It will then be arranged for that patron to be sent to the divisional library where they will meet with the staff member who will take the books off their record and resolve any fines issues.

 

FINE WAIVING POLICY

All patrons of the MIT Libraries are required to pay any library fines incurred. Fine disputes can be handled at any library but may be referred to another library if appropriate. Reserves fines should be handled at the circulation desk where the item is on reserve. Fines may be waived only in cases where the circumstances were beyond the patron’s control, including personal tragedy, illness, and library error. Disputed fines may be entirely or partially waived, or may not be waived at all. Only circulation staff may waive fines; student workers may not waive fines.

If the fines dispute request meets the circumstances below, the circulation staff may immediately process the “waive”. Otherwise the patrons should fill out a Fines Dispute Form detailing the reasons why the fines should be waived. This form will be submitted to the circulation supervisor, who will review and resolve the dispute.

When a “waive” is entered into the system, circulation staff are required to enter a designated letter code that corresponds to the appropriate waive comment as well as their initials and the date.

Waive codes and comments:

A) Returned or materials not discharged (found in stacks)
B) Patron claims return
C) Renewal confusion (reached maximum renewal)
D) Book recalled (notice not received)
E) Computer downtime confusion
F) Wrong grace period
G) Circulation staff error (wrong due date stamped, etc.)
H) Extenuating circumstances (personal tragedy, illness, etc.)
I) Other –please explain
J) Problem with Your Account Overnight Reserve Renewal

PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH PAYMENT DEPOSITS AT CIRCULATION DESKS

1. Generate Payment Report for each terminal that deals with fines (if
no fines were collected on that day, print only one Payment report to
attach to the MIT Libraries Circulation Close Out Form).

2. Summarize the amounts on the MIT Libraries Circulation Close Out Form.

3. Affix the paperwork from the terminals onto the Close Out Form.

4. Reconcile the amount of fine money collected against the Close Out Form.

5. Place fine money in an envelope with a note indicating the amount and date of deposit.

6. Place in the Safe.

7. At the end of month, transfer all daily deposits onto the Circulation Deposit Summary Sheet.

8. Deposit is then delivered to the Financial Administrator, who issues a receipt.

9. Attach receipt of deposit slip from the Financial Administrator to the Circulation Deposit Summary Sheet.

 

 

page maintained by cir-lib@mit.edu
last updated 15-Jul-2005