Library fines
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| Fri, 05-25-2007 - 3:22pm |
UGH!! DD had two big paper due this semester - health class and global studies - so she took a ton of books out of the library. DD wanted to (had to) keep the books until the papers were handed in and accepted. The school has the kids so scared about plagiarism that they don't want to return the books too early - what if Mr. K asks to see the book that I'm citing. I renewed them as much as I could (at some point you just can't renew anymore). So today I returned all her books - I didn't count them, but it was three cloth shopping bags full.
When I walked in, I said to the librarian "I think I'm going to make a big donation to the library today!" - well, I was right. My total fine was over $100! OMG!! I knew it would be bad, but I didn't expect that! It's a problem every spring - annual term papers and reluctance to return books before the due date. This year the Global teacher extended the due date by a week - yikes that was one more week of fines!!
sigh
Sue

Wow!
I always call myself the perfect library patron...I check out lots of books, turn them in late, and pay the fines. They've made lots of money off me thru the years!!
Karin
Sue,
We've been away for a few days so I'm a little late in responding. I tend to get stuck with a fair amount of library fines too. A couple of years ago, I started keeping all the little receipts when I paid the fines because I was *sure* I was getting double-dinged!
Anyway ... at DD's school, before any written assignment is turned in, students have to run the paper through a PC based anti-plagiarism website like turnitin.com. It saves the teacher time, the student time (if he/she has to defend a paper, library fines (!) and really discourages plagiarism in the first place.
Maybe L could suggest using a similar website to her teachers next year.
They use turnitin at L's school - and it does help catch some kids - mostly those who either don't understand how to put things in their own words, or are too lazy and don't cite what they use. I think part of the late fees is that the time frame of the assignment is longer than the library loaning period - and L doesn't want to return any books until the paper is totally done - she might need to go back to a reference.
Ah Well - we are lucky to have a great library system - I'm happy to make a donation once in a while.