Good news or Bad news?

[Mr. Mud]

So today, I find my library book that has been several years overdue (oh come on it was a biography)... that's the Good news... the bad news is that is owe $93.75 cents as of today...

[Raiser Blade]

Wait for an amnesty day.

[Rawhide]

By that time the book should have been considered lost and replaced. The replacement of the book should be less than the fine. Offer to replace the book.

[Jack Squat]

I'd do what Rawhide says, although Raiser's idea is pretty good as well if your library does those.

Now for my crazy fine story. I rented out a book to give me ideas for a science fair project, and returned the book 3 days early after getting what I needed. 6 months later, around the beginning of January, I get a letter from the library saying that that book has been overdue all this time and that I owe $10.91. I don't pay attention to it, as I'm not inteding to check anything new out anyways.

Fast forward 4 months. Our school D&D group has started meeting in the library's conference room as our sponser had to drop us for a few reasons that don't really matter to the story. The guy that normally signs out the room is running late, so I decide now would be a good time to hassle about the mix up.

I walk up to the counter and ask what the fee I owe is. I'm told $3.00. Suprised, I tell them how at the beginning of the year I got a letter from them saying it was about $11.00 and asked about what the drop in the fee was about. Turns out that they sold the book and it was basically a service for them taking the book that I apparantly never returned out of the system when they sold it. Very, very confused, I handed over the $3 to clear the fees and get the room.

I probably would have argued the logic of what she just said, but I was kinda glad I didn't have to fork over a lot more to be able to use the room.

[evnafets]

Wait long enough and every library should have an amnesty day

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2633876.html

[reorith]

take the into the library, slam it on the desk and shout. "my name is mr. mud and i am through with your extortion!" then with a violent slap, send the book flying and march out. call back later in the day and claim your evil twin brother stole the book and then tried to ruin your reputation. it works for me

[Serpentine]

Rawhide's right, by that stage it'll be much easier for you to just pay to have it replaced. There will probably be a service charge as well, which you'd have to pay either way (at my library it's now $12). For the record, bills are really annoying to have to deal with, and nearly always turn up only on a really busy day when there's a massive line, and as someone with a bill can't borrow until it's dealt with, I have to do it straight away

Jack, if you knew you returned it, went looking for it on the shelves and found it, they'd have to scrap your fines.

[Jack Squat]

Jack, if you knew you returned it, went looking for it on the shelves and found it, they'd have to scrap your fines.

nah, they'd have said something stupid like I planted it there to avoid the fine...they're really intent on getting cash. They charged my brother for a book he never checked out.

Needless to say, we don't use the library much anymore.

[Aramil Liadon]

What? Blasphemy!

My library's pretty good. I figure I've gotten enough use out of it that I owe them tons of money. Sometimes I'll let a book go overdue just so I can pay for it.

[Raiser Blade]

What? Blasphemy!

My library's pretty good. I figure I've gotten enough use out of it that I owe them tons of money. Sometimes I'll let a book go overdue just so I can pay for it.

I really hope your joking...

[Exeson]

Rawhides advice sounds the most sensible.

I'm in luck with my library because my school has a really good one so I usually do my homework there before school. This means that the librarian knows my by name (not bad for a school with over 900 pupils) and often just drops the fines for me 'cause she likes me, which is good because I am very forgetful.

[Kitya]

I like libraries... which is why I'm ashamed to admit that I have never been to the one here in town. The problem with libraries, for me, is that they rarely have a decent selection of the books I enjoy reading, and often, I have more of that particular genre than they do! The town library where I went to highschool had a whole 4 Agatha Christies... FOUR!! My parents have more books than their local library does, and we have a lot of books too. THing is, we tend to re-read our books to the point that we need to replace them, so getting them from the library is kind of a waste. Altho, libraries are great for trying out a new author, that way you know if you want to buy the books or not.

The weirdest library story I have is the town library of where I went to college. They dealt ONLY with hard cover books... which I can kind of see, since they last longer, but people would donate books to them, and often they were paperbacks. If you borrowed a paperback, they didn't even sign it out for you... they didn't stamp it or anything... soooo... when I found a copy of The Blue Sword there... it kind of sort of forgot to go back home and stayed with me.

Now, I go hunting for second hand bookstores and stock up. *chuckles*

[Don Julio Anejo]

I have all of Tom Clancy purchased from a used bookstore...

Now if only I could get him to write fantasy