Managing Library Resources
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At any given time in our house we can have at least 100 library resources in our possession. Since our kids are voracious readers, the older ones can easily go through 7 books a week as well as flip through numerous other books for their schoolwork. One hundred books can be quite the load to manage, as you can imagine, and I’ve paid my fair share in library late fees and replacement costs.
We’re working to reduce this however. The library is offered as a “free service” and I, for one would like to keep it that way.
Here are some ways that we keep track of our library stuff — and hopefully avoid fines.
One library card
We maintain one library account for the entire family. In this way, I can better track our checkouts online, and it simplifies things immensely. My kids don’t experience that rite of passage in getting their own library cards, but everybody seems to be okay with that.
Our library offers both a keychain card and a wallet card for each account, so FishPapa and I each have one. He can pick up our holds on the way home from work without my needing to remember to give him the card.
One storage location
We have a large bookcase on the schoolroom wall that houses the library books. If a book isn’t actively being read, it should be shelved here. This doesn’t always happen, but we’re working on it. I know some families use bins or baskets, but we needed something out of FishChick2’s reach, so a high shelf works for us.
Likewise, we keep a bin on a shelf above the TV for library DVDs. Unfortunately, our DVD checkouts have not been free due to lost or broken disks, so we are considering eliminating the whole DVD checkout thing in exchange for Netflix streaming.
A notebook to track returns
This summer our library system converted to a new checkout system which had quite a few bugs in it. While I’m sure we didn’t handle checkouts perfectly, there were several occasions when I was sure we had returned a resource, but they could not find it. And while most of the librarians are quite polite and understanding, I’ve encountered more than one Library Ninja.
So, to keep track of what I was returning, I started a library notebook. I list the library resources returned and write down the date we returned it and which location we took it to. While it’s still my word against the library’s, this is much better than a recollection of putting it in the library bag. It takes some time to get things ready for the library trip, but we haven’t had a resource go AWOL since we started this method.
What do you do to keep library fines at bay?
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I’m a librarian so luckily I don’t get overdues 🙂 But there are online services like Libraryelf that will email you notices when your items are coming due. Also many library catalogues offer a reminder service that sends out reminders as well (BiblioCommons – a catalogue that is taking over the library world by storm has this service).
Our library will only allow 7 DVD/CD’s out to an account at a time and kids who do NOT attend school cannot have a card until they are 12 (homeschool kids k-age 12 can’t have one). They charge $1 a day for late DVD/CD’s with a $35 maximum fine then you buy it. The nice thing is DVD’s are a week check out and CD’c are a month. If you want to check out books by the same aurthor there is a 3 book limit. Our library also has a used book section where you can buy paperbacks for 2/.25 or hardbacks 1/.75 or AV items for $1. We have found some real treasures there. As a homeschool mom it is hard to do library books with a 25 book and 7 DVD/CD limit per card if I want to read any also. We go to the library at least once a week and but most weeks twice.
We have a tote bag that we keep by the back door that holds all our library books. We ususally have about 20 books at a time. We also only use one account it makes it much easier to keep track of what we have out. I have a hold on our account for no DVDs, CDs, etc., only books. I got tired of late fees and lost/scratched DVDs.
This post just reminded me that I have books due tomorrow. Off to the library website to renew them now.
We homeschool and check out at least 50 books/week. It can be a chore looking for that one last book. I’ve had to set a few new rules because I was losing my sanity. I keep all their books in a crate in our family room. They are allowed to read the books in that room only.
Our library system prints the receipts and we also have online access to view our accounts and renew online as needed. This is a life saver! The day we’re heading to the library I print our lists and check off the ones we’re returning. They go straight into a bag and once they’re in the bag the kids can’t take it out. That way I know they’ve truly made the return trip to the library.
If you have a copier…copy the spines of a stack of books you will be returning. This will save having to write out a list.
When I was a teenager, we had trouble for a while with the library “losing” books we had returned, and telling us they hadn’t been turned in. (On more than one occasion, Mom walked back and found it on the shelf, where they had reshelved it without checking it in through the system.) She started taking all the books we were returning, lining them up on the copier, and making a photocopy of all of the spines. That way when they lost one, she could say, “Look, I returned all of these together. If you have the other 37, why do you not have those 2?” It helped make it a little less “her word against theirs.”
We borrow a LOT from the library – we currently have about 80 items out, and that is fairly typical. My youngest likes a huge variety, so probably 10-15 are just his picture books and easy storybooks alone, along with some audio books for him and then books for the other kids and myself and a few dvds. Our library is online with the reminder going to my email account, so I check it every day and renew things. I also check at night and will make an early morning trip to the bookdrop to get overdue things in before the library is open – they will not charge if its in the book drop prior to the library doors opening!
We keep our items in a basket except for dvd’s which I stack next to the tv and then any books I or the older kids are reading.
We public school, so I also need to track those books as well. For my youngest, I write down the title of his book on the day its due back on my central calendar. For one of my other boys, who is a bit unorganized, I write down the titles of his books in his assignment book so all I need to do is remind him to gather his books and he can look at the titles to remind him if he needs to. He also limits himself to 2 books a week, even though is able to get 3 – he is NOT a reader. My daughter is able to track hers on her own.
I go to the library VERY frequently – I don’t spend money on books much anymore unless I have a gift card or we hit a used book sale. And although I try to avoid the fines, I figure those are my “donations” to my library!!!
*Sigh*
My books are ALWAYS late. But I am resolved to get them in on time. I am! I might have to try the notebook. My husband always jokes that the librarians KNOW me and automatically go towards the cash register when I walk through the door. Soooo sad.
We corral our library books in a big plastic collapsible rolling tote box. All library books and videos are kept in the tote. When my kids are done reading for the day, the book goes back in the box where they can pick it up again the next day. My library prints receipts, which makes it fairly easy to keep track of everything. Another idea I have seen to help keep track of what you check out if your library doesn’t print receipts is to make a photocopy of the spines of the books you check out, and then just write the due date on the top of the page.
We go to the library about once every two weeks. My kids LOVE the thin beginning readers books, usually the ones based on popular cartoons like Clifford or Dora. We checkout 30-40 at a time … With that number, it would just be too much to sit down and write them all into a notebook.
I usually count the kids books when we walk inside, write the number on a post-it note and place it on my wall organizer. Kids books go into a drawer in the living room for easy access (easier than trying to keep them standing up on a shelf somewhere) and my books go into my room.
The kids have to ask before they can read their library books – I usually always let them but sometimes the living room is too much of a disaster zone and I fear books will poof away. They know the books go back to the drawer when they’re done. Every once in a while (usually once or twice a week), Mama pulls a surprised inspection and checks the numbers – if we’re missing some (which is really rare), we tear apart the house until we find it. That way, we’re not ripping apart the place the day of our next library visit.
The night before we plan to go to the library, books are gathered, counted, and placed in the library bag. Then the bag is set by the front door so it isn’t forgotten. (Yes, I once forgot the bag of library books – don’t ask – it was a really bad week.)
This seems to work for us… I call it “organized chaos”. 😉
I wish my children would read one chapter book from front to back each week…. 100 book? Wow!
Currently we have a $50 fine at the public library… so we have not been in almost a year. I am so bad.
The notebook is an excellent idea.
@Crystal & Co, Can you negotiate with them at all? Our librarians will usually cut the fine in half if I beg and plead hard enough. Especially if I do the pee pee dance whilst my young children cry hysterically. “Please librarian dragon, oh please reduce my fines!” Try it. 😉