[Libs-Or] Lost or damaged books: replacement vs payment

[Abbie Anderson]

At North Bend Public Library, our practice has gone back and forth on 
this, for all the reasons others cite.

One standard we have tried is to accept replacements only of new items 
(or used items in as-new condition) with the same ISBN as the lost or 
damaged item. This requirement often ends up deterring patrons from 
trying the replacement route, if they are not familiar with ISBNs and 
don't feel comfortable with the concept. And of course if they lost or 
damaged an older item without an ISBN, this becomes more difficult. 
Finally, as others have said, sometimes you don't *want* the exact same 
item replaced, if it's an out-of-date edition or contained obsolete 
information. You just want the money, so that you can purchase something 
appropriate for your collection.

Another thing we do (like a lot of libraries) is to charge a processing 
fee of $5 in addition to the replacement cost of the item, since our 
costs are not just the purchase price but all the staff time and 
materials involved in placing an order and processing a newly-received 
item. Even when we accept an item the patron purchased as a replacement 
for the lost item, they still owe us the $5 processing fee, since we 
still have to catalog the item and cover it and label it.

Given our staff and materials costs in processing a donated item, and 
all the confusion that can surround replacing the item correctly, it 
usually ends up being simpler to tell the patron that we can't accept a 
donated item in lieu of the replacement cost.

Good luck with your policy decision!
Abbie Anderson
Assistant Director
North Bend Public Library

On 07/18/2014 02:58 PM, Bob Jones wrote:
> At Milton-Freewater Public Library we do not allow the patron to provide a replacement copy.  Why?
>
> Too often they want to replace a trade hardcover book with a book club edition, or a paperback, or a beat-up copy from a yard sale.  Much simpler to collect payment.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Libs-Or [mailto:libs-or-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of Leah Griffith
> Sent: Friday, July 18, 2014 2:50 PM
> To: libs-or at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
> Subject: [Libs-Or] Lost or damaged books: replacement vs payment
>
> We're having some discussion at NPL about revising our policy to allow people to replace a lost item with a new copy.   At first glance, it seems like a great idea, we get a new book to put on the shelf to replace the one they lost.
>
> At second glance the discussion goes to requirements of the condition or age of the replacement copy (like new only), if the item is now outdated (Tax help for 2012, lost then, but the person wants to replace the 2012 in 2014, and really, we don't want it)   and if it is just something that we would not put back on the shelf due to age or another reason.
>
> But we can't make judgement calls (at least I don't think so) if we'll charge or not, as the action is the same, loss or complete damage of an item so we would pull it from the collection.   As someone said, if you run into my old car and dent it, you are still going to pay me the cost to repair, but I may decide not to repair the car and just use the money to buy gas.  I've still taken the loss on my car as the library has taken the loss on the lost item.
>
> So, would anyone like to share their policy regarding replacing lost or damaged materials, rather than requiring payment for those items.
>
> Thanks and I'll share the results on the list.
>
> Leah
> **********************************
> Leah M. Griffith, Director
> Newberg Public Library
> 503 E. Hancock Street     Newberg, OR   97132
> P 503-537-1256     F 503-538-9720
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-- 

**************************
Abbie Anderson
Assistant Director
North Bend Public Library
(541) 756-1007 ext 0035