ILL's currently cost the library $20-$30 dollars. Patrons will only be paying $5 of this cost.

If a patron is under 18 years of age they will not go to collections due to overdue fines. At $15 dollars a patron's card is blocked, over 18 if the account goes over $25 there is a possiblity to be sent to collections, but one would have to completely ignore what is going on with their library account to get to that stage.

A 25 item hold limit will require patrons to think about what they put on hold rather than blindly requesting material.

When holds expire that also costs the library between $5-$10 dollars all transportation based. Trucks pick up holds and transits from all the branches in the morning and delivery them to Central. Central then processes those materials, which get put on trucks to go out to the branches.

Of course not all patrons fall under this generalization. I consider myself a heavy user that has mastered the art of requesting material and suspending holds, but in these times we all have to make changes that not everyone likes.

50 item check-out will hopefully get our patrons to stay on top of their accounts and find more items by browsing the shelves. It also puts less stress on the employees who are processing mass amounts of material a day. I've never met a library employee that doesn't go above and beyond their job description, but with a limited budget, furloughs, and hours cut next year isn't it time the public thought of what they do for us.

I'll be the first to admit this isn't the most pleasant thing, but something has to be done so that the library can continue to provide excellent customer service with a small budget and be available to those seeking help from the recession and layoffs.

Just a reminder that the library is paid for by the general budget, which also provides the city with police and fire. Some sacrifies will have to be made.

i'd happily pay fines on missed hold pickups if it meant that the notification system was less flaky.

I'm bummed about the interlibrary loan charges, too, but at least you can still make purchase suggestions.

Until this policy juvenile and picture books had no fees at at all. How do you collect from a nine year old? Do you send them to a collection agency or just turn off their card? Is that what we want to do to emerging readers? What about readers whose parents don't read English? Do we want to chase them away with fees? The library already charges for lost materials but the no-fines-on-kids was the best policy for learning to read.

I have two children of different ages and interests who want to read/be read different things. Sometimes some of our picture books go back late. But I always have a lot of books around the house and we get our twenty minutes of reading in each day. We use reading to help soothe tantrums, reading to help potty training, reading for everything. Charging 15 cents a day on a picture book will certainly decrease the number of books I check out.

Great for the library's budget. Bad for kids and for literacy in this city.

<tosses mane, flicks tail, stamps hooves>

Meanwhile, on my Birthday, I donate $100 to the Library beacuse I am just tickled with how great they are.

You can donate too, if it's right for your budget: http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=about_sup...

We corvids are circling…croak!

How about a $600 toilet cover?
Reagan said it was “fair and reasonable”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_seat

As randolph said, there are a lot of us who do research without working for a university that this is going to hurt…

The public library service is provided because we, as a city, agreed that it was a benefit to us as a city. The inter-library loan service is valuable to many small businesses: “new economy” firms, writers, and artists, all important parts of Seattle's culture. I don't want to live in a poor and unpleasant city. What about you?

And don't forget to return your library books on time. (PSA)

Lets just cancel the contracts, and not build some more bombers, and bombs.
Then we'll have more than enough money for libraries.

oh, if it only that easy. . .

OK, we're 10-15 years away from that technology being good and cheap and adopted to the extent that you could do away with book-lending, but it's going to happen sooner or later.

When the e-books take over (which I'm not excited about, but it's inevitable), we'll have these marvelous buildings to use for gathering spaces for all kinds of events. Or to let fall unconscionably into neglect and disrepair. Whichever.

http://www.spl.org/pdfs/material_loan_change.pdf

However, I really don't get why this costs the library more money. Is there that much labor needed to maintain lists on their computer system? I'll feel better about the whole thing if it really does require extra labor.

Still, I don't have the money to purchase them myself, so I really can't complain.