[aisle] Missouri Chapter Statement on Elimination of Fines or Fees for Overdue and Lost Books

Tasha Squires tsquires at dg58.org
Wed Mar 10 13:03:03 CST 2021


I have long hated charging students overdue fines. I'm glad I'm in a school
district where it isn't a requirement. I work in a middle school with 7th
and 8th graders. So no fine for overdue books. In terms of lost books, I
tell the students they have until the very end of the school year to find
the book and get it back to me. I don't want them to be afraid to come into
the school library because they are worried they have a lost book. IF at
the end of the year they still have it lost, or have books that aren't
returned, we do have the power to hold their yearbooks until the last day
of school as an incentive to get the books back. IF however, they still
don't pay for the lost book, or return it, we obviously give them their
yearbooks.

I will say there are books I don't get back and it is what it is. We have
students that the counselors let me know won't be able to pay for it and I
just mark them as lost and stop asking the student about them. Typically in
a school of between 450 and 500 I don't get back maybe 10 books and those
aren't paid for.

Honestly, if my school were in a district where I felt like it would be a
hardship, I probably would only ask like once for the book to be paid for
and if it wasn't then I would let it drop.


-- 
Tasha Squires
O'Neill Middle School
School Librarian
tsquires at dg58.org
(630) 719-5815

Author of Library Partnerships: Making Connections Between School and
Public Libraries, 2009, Information Today, Inc.
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