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Ok, so here's the deal at the library: If you have fines of $10+, you can't check anything out or do anything else unless it's paid down to $9.99 or less. Yes, there's a whole bunch of people who have paid $.01 to bring their fines to $9.99 so they can check out ... and proceed to rent $10 worth of DVDs, but I digress.
Anyway, the old library software was good, text-based monochrome on dumb terminals, but it worked. It did what it had to do, hence, if you had $10+ in fines, you couldn't check out, you couldn't renew, you couldn't place requests, etc., and you HAD to pay it down or off, or else nothing.
Well, in 2003 we got the new software that, "does everything the old software does ... and more and will save you TONS of time!" Ok, so it was graphical and it looked good, blah blah blah. BUT, of course, they lied and it couldn't be configured like the old software and when we complained about all the things it didn't do, the company claimed, "oh, those are enhanced features," meaning we were paying the generic price and, well, just forget about it, ok?!
Meaning: A Patron can owe us $3620484725.98 and still use the library's online database to place requests on books.
Here's the deal with placing requests. You can do it from home online, using your library card number and PIN, or you can have a librarian do it for you on the phone or at the library. When the request comes in, a postcard is sent to you and you have 12-14 days to pick it up. If you don't pick it up within that time or call to cancel your request, you get charged $1.00 per requested item (so we recoup some postage).
So, one of our patrons who hasn't been in the library for several months apparently placed 30 requests from home. How do I know she placed them from home? Simply by the fact that SHE ALREADY OWED US $70.25 in overdue fines. If she had called in the requests or been in the library, a librarian wouldn't have placed the requests and would have told her that she needed to pay her fines. Another hint was the fact that she had a Address Correction block on her record, which happens by default the first time you place your own requests online. Meaning that we don't even have her correct address information, which is true since she hasn't yet been to the library to pick up the numerous requests that have already shown up and been sitting on the shelf waiting for her.
15 of them have already expired, which means that I've already added $15 in "not picked up" fees, and more requests keep showing up. Now this wouldn't have been so bad if she was a normal thinking person and like, contacted us in some way to say, "hey, I placed a gazillion holds and where's my postcards telling me they're here?" But, no ... she's probably in her own little world, not even remembering that she requested 30 books with the "My First Day at School" theme, all of which are probably irrelevant by now.
In the beginning, I was thinking of sending her a letter to explain that she had already had major overdue fines at the time or requesting the items that are here waiting for her but cannot be checked out to her until she has $9.99 or less in fines, but then I realized we didn't have the correct mailing address for her. As the days went by, I got angry, because how can you spend at least an hour or two online searching for a specific type of book and placing a request on 30 different titles? And then as I was continually adding $1.00 per expired request to her fees, I was getting more and more depressed as I realized that I would have to be the one to explain the entire mess to her, which is her own fault and responsibility, but we all know how that usually goes.
So, yeah ... I'm totally dreading the day she finally(!) comes to the library, definitely unaware of the original $70 in fines, and probably didn't read the online info about the $1.00 charge if you place a request and neglect to pick it up, and she'll probably be there frantically looking for a book that her kid needs for some report that she won't be able to check out because she's in Debt Collection due to owing us over $100 for more than 90 days and didn't receive her bill/notice due to the fact that we don't have her correct address, and I'll hear my name called in that desperate "pleeeeeeeeease help me with this patron" tone.
Anyway, the old library software was good, text-based monochrome on dumb terminals, but it worked. It did what it had to do, hence, if you had $10+ in fines, you couldn't check out, you couldn't renew, you couldn't place requests, etc., and you HAD to pay it down or off, or else nothing.
Well, in 2003 we got the new software that, "does everything the old software does ... and more and will save you TONS of time!" Ok, so it was graphical and it looked good, blah blah blah. BUT, of course, they lied and it couldn't be configured like the old software and when we complained about all the things it didn't do, the company claimed, "oh, those are enhanced features," meaning we were paying the generic price and, well, just forget about it, ok?!
Meaning: A Patron can owe us $3620484725.98 and still use the library's online database to place requests on books.
Here's the deal with placing requests. You can do it from home online, using your library card number and PIN, or you can have a librarian do it for you on the phone or at the library. When the request comes in, a postcard is sent to you and you have 12-14 days to pick it up. If you don't pick it up within that time or call to cancel your request, you get charged $1.00 per requested item (so we recoup some postage).
So, one of our patrons who hasn't been in the library for several months apparently placed 30 requests from home. How do I know she placed them from home? Simply by the fact that SHE ALREADY OWED US $70.25 in overdue fines. If she had called in the requests or been in the library, a librarian wouldn't have placed the requests and would have told her that she needed to pay her fines. Another hint was the fact that she had a Address Correction block on her record, which happens by default the first time you place your own requests online. Meaning that we don't even have her correct address information, which is true since she hasn't yet been to the library to pick up the numerous requests that have already shown up and been sitting on the shelf waiting for her.
15 of them have already expired, which means that I've already added $15 in "not picked up" fees, and more requests keep showing up. Now this wouldn't have been so bad if she was a normal thinking person and like, contacted us in some way to say, "hey, I placed a gazillion holds and where's my postcards telling me they're here?" But, no ... she's probably in her own little world, not even remembering that she requested 30 books with the "My First Day at School" theme, all of which are probably irrelevant by now.
In the beginning, I was thinking of sending her a letter to explain that she had already had major overdue fines at the time or requesting the items that are here waiting for her but cannot be checked out to her until she has $9.99 or less in fines, but then I realized we didn't have the correct mailing address for her. As the days went by, I got angry, because how can you spend at least an hour or two online searching for a specific type of book and placing a request on 30 different titles? And then as I was continually adding $1.00 per expired request to her fees, I was getting more and more depressed as I realized that I would have to be the one to explain the entire mess to her, which is her own fault and responsibility, but we all know how that usually goes.
So, yeah ... I'm totally dreading the day she finally(!) comes to the library, definitely unaware of the original $70 in fines, and probably didn't read the online info about the $1.00 charge if you place a request and neglect to pick it up, and she'll probably be there frantically looking for a book that her kid needs for some report that she won't be able to check out because she's in Debt Collection due to owing us over $100 for more than 90 days and didn't receive her bill/notice due to the fact that we don't have her correct address, and I'll hear my name called in that desperate "pleeeeeeeeease help me with this patron" tone.
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