Thirty-nine-year-old Shelly Koontz was arrested for failing to return a copy of the The Freedom Writer’s Diary that she borrowed last April from the Jessup library. The library had tried to reach Koontz through four calls and four letters, one certified, which she refused to accept. Fed up, library officials asked to press charges, leading officers to visit Koontz’s home with three simple options: return the book; pay the library $13.95 so they could buy a new copy; or, go to jail.
libraries
The Poverty-Stricken Masses Are Flocking To Libraries
By 1.11.09
Why waste precious cash at Borders and Barnes & Noble when you can go to the library for free? It’s a simple question that is causing traffic local libraries to spike as flocks of new patrons register for library cards. We’ve praised libraries before, but it takes a depressing recession to convince people that yes, even they could use an extra buck in their wallet.
7 Ways Your Public Library Can Help You During A Bad Economy
By 7.22.08
Reader MG is a fan of the site and a public librarian and has written a list of 7 ways that your library can help you during a bad economy. Libraries are an excellent resource and they’re pretty easy to use. Don’t worry if you’re not a big reader, there’s lots more stuff to do at the library besides just checking out books.
6 Days In Jail For Overdue Library Books
By 3.3.08
Beloit, Wisconsin does not f*&% around when it comes to library books. When your books aren’t returned to the Beloit Public Library, three overdue notices are mailed out and then you may be issued a citation that could possibly include a court date.
An Overdue Library Book Could Scuttle Your Dreams Of Home Ownership
By 12.28.07
That unreturned library book could threaten your credit score if it becomes a permanent fixture on your shelf. According to the New York Times, libraries are treating borrowed materials as debts and siccing debt collectors on borrowers who fail to pay longstanding late fines. The Queens Public Library has used Unique Management Services to collect over $11.4 million from delinquent borrowers, who may not realize that their unreturned books could eventually stand between them and a mortgage.
WorldCat Turns You Into A Library Power User
By 10.4.07
We’ve written before about the money-saving goodness called your local public library, but a lot of readers may not know about a powerful online search tool, WorldCat, that lets you search the holdings of 57,000 libraries in over 100 countries. Even better: “Tell it what book you’re looking for and your zip code or city, and it will pinpoint the nearest library that has the book.”
Save On Textbooks By Borrowing Them From The School Library…
By 9.17.07
We always knew one of the biggest scams in college was the school bookstore, but we never realized that you could actually try borrowing textbooks from the library. The blogger behind The Baglady certainly did:
The Friendly Reminder Amazon And Barnes & Noble Would Prefer We Kept To Ourselves
By 4.2.07
Are you listening?
Free Netflix Rentals For Brooklyn Residents?
By 3.24.07
The Brooklyn Public Library may replace its DVD inventory with a Netflix subscription. According to the NY Post, talks are underway to offer free Netflix deliveries to any Brooklyn resident with a library card. The proposal makes sense when you consider the challenge of maintaining a DVD collection in fifty-eight branches.
“DVDs are very expensive to buy, and they’re also very expensive to move because they’re delicate,” Vitali said.
Sports Illustrated Refuses To Send Swimsuit Issue To Libraries
By 3.8.07
It should be up to the institution to decide whether or not they choose to make the issue available to patrons. The publisher should send the issues we’ve paid for. If we throw them in the trash, that’s our prerogative.
Who knew librarians were so down with the swimsuit issue? That’s very cool, somehow.
Google Hates Public Library’s Blog
By 4.3.06
- “I read with amusement your recent piece on the rapid resolution of the google blog deletion, since of course blogger kills blogs every day (just browse the blogger support google group for head counts). One of the kill tactics that is especially swell is their spambot. Now I have no sympathy for true splogs and I appreciate that they’re trying to combat this. But as our small public library just found out, spam isn’t all they’re killing.”
