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I know we've talked about how much we pay at the library before.

I only recently have been checking out larger numbers of books and last week we had our first mishap. A book got water spilled on it and the back cover was torn. It is still readable. I returned it and showed the sub librarian and she told me that the head librarian would have to take a look at it and then charge my account accordingly. Today I look at my account and a book fee of 4.99 is on there and a 5.00 processing fee! The book itself only costs 4.99 and I'm sure I could order it and get it shipped for less than that! Is this normal? :confused: Would talking to the head librarian even help?

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Having worked at a library, I can tell you that you will most likely hear the cost of the time to order, label, and catalog a new book is the reason for the processing fee. Each book has to be assigned its own identifying number to be checked in and out, and they also need to record the discard of the other copy.

 

This being said, my county library would not charge for something like this unless it was a continual problem. They understand that things happen despite best efforts: a glass of water is spilled, a baby chews a page, etc.

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In our library system, the replacement cost of a book far exceeds what it would cost me to purchase.

 

I have replaced a ruined book myself instead of paying the fee. The librarian told me it had to be the exact edition of the book, which in my case was not a problem. Oh, I guess I had to pay the overdue fine!

 

Never hurts to ask.

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At my library, if you can purchase or otherwise obtain a new copy and bring it in, they will go with that instead of charging you for the book. That said, you'd still have to pay the processing fee I'm guessing. Honestly, I think you've gotten away cheap. Some library books are *very* expensive to replace.

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At my library, if you can purchase or otherwise obtain a new copy and bring it in, they will go with that instead of charging you for the book. That said, you'd still have to pay the processing fee I'm guessing. Honestly, I think you've gotten away cheap. Some library books are *very* expensive to replace.

 

Yes, my library does this, too.

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I know we've talked about how much we pay at the library before.

I only recently have been checking out larger numbers of books and last week we had our first mishap. A book got water spilled on it and the back cover was torn. It is still readable. I returned it and showed the sub librarian and she told me that the head librarian would have to take a look at it and then charge my account accordingly. Today I look at my account and a book fee of 4.99 is on there and a 5.00 processing fee! The book itself only costs 4.99 and I'm sure I could order it and get it shipped for less than that! Is this normal? :confused: Would talking to the head librarian even help?

 

Yes. at our library, replacing a book costs the book's cost +$10 processing fee. And you MUST buy the book through them. Replacing it yourself is not allowed.

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:confused: I guess I should consider myself lucky. I'm just shaking my head at paying $10 for a book that is still readable.

 

 

The processing fee I just don't agree with. Now granted I'm having an irritable day (need chocolate!!!!) but why do I have to pay extra for somebody to do their job? I didn't get extra money when I had to clean up a bigger than normal mess at my office cleaning job. I didn't charge the person extra because they made the mess. I just did my job. Ugg, try not to bash me too much, I'm just grumpy today.

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:confused: I guess I should consider myself lucky. I'm just shaking my head at paying $10 for a book that is still readable.

 

 

The processing fee I just don't agree with. Now granted I'm having an irritable day (need chocolate!!!!) but why do I have to pay extra for somebody to do their job? I didn't get extra money when I had to clean up a bigger than normal mess at my office cleaning job. I didn't charge the person extra because they made the mess. I just did my job. Ugg, try not to bash me too much, I'm just grumpy today.

 

I think part of the reason is that with no processing fee, people would just decide they really like a book, call it lost, pay for it, and keep it instead of returning it and ordering from Amazon or wherever. This creates a lot of extra hassle for the library and keeps the book out of circulation until they can replace it and process the new one. Also, what about rare or out of print books? People could find them at the library, say they are lost, and keep them. A processing fee can help discourage that kind of thing.

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:confused: I guess I should consider myself lucky. I'm just shaking my head at paying $10 for a book that is still readable.

 

 

The processing fee I just don't agree with. Now granted I'm having an irritable day (need chocolate!!!!) but why do I have to pay extra for somebody to do their job? I didn't get extra money when I had to clean up a bigger than normal mess at my office cleaning job. I didn't charge the person extra because they made the mess. I just did my job. Ugg, try not to bash me too much, I'm just grumpy today.

 

They always allowed me to keep the damaged book. You should make a request.

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Be glad you didn't lose it. At my library a lost book is whatever cost THEY have for the book plus $15. (Moral - never move if you have books checked out from the library.)

 

This is precisely the reason I deliberately turned all our books in before our recent move. I was afraid of losing them!

(We still haven't found my favorite vacuum cleaner that was in use on the VERY LAST DAY!)

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