Does the provision of Incremental Fine fulfill the Five Laws of Library Science?
Does the provision of Incremental Fine fulfill the Five Laws of Library Science? Five Laws of Library Science enunciated by Dr. S. R. Ranganathan says that 1. Books are for use. 2. Every Book Its reader 3. Every reader his/her book 4. Save the time of Reader 5. Library is a growing organism We the Library Professionals value the above laws to great extent in libraries and try to maximum implement in all aspects but when it comes to Incremental Fine, it raises many questions and in the queue of questions, first question is “Does the provision of incremental fine fulfill the five laws?” Question seems very simple and many of us may say “YES” but some of us may also say “NO” and I am one of NO category. The provision of Incremental Fine creates burden for library users and get pressure from library to return the book on time else s/he will have to pay compulsorily the fine amount next to normal fine as per rule of incremental fine. But, why a user should pay extra amount? Here above laws of library science seems violated. Whey we say Books are for use, Every book it’s reader, Every reader his/her then why libraries are imposing extra fine. If the libraries have to get the book back, they may easily RECALL book or block the user so that s/he will not be eligible to avail services as punishment for violating the rule of not returning the book on time but collecting the extra charges from library users seems like ‘library considers incremental fine as source of revenue’ As a result, this provision may kill the interest of library patron and next time, perhaps s/he may not will to issue any book from library. Perhaps, library may lose the patron interest for visiting library too next time and forever. This may also lead to pass the information by that user to other library users about the negative aspects and as a fear, the other users may stop utilizing the issue/return service of library My question is – “Is it compulsory to impose extra amount, in case user does not return book?” If s/he is not returning book, let the normal fine be imposed as per library policy? Why Incremental Fine? Your suggestions are expected and welcome. Thanks DP Tripathi -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Incremental fines are ok if a patron does not return a book that has a
queue of reservations and not as a matter of routine. When a book is great
demand circulation staff should go out of the way to remind the current
borrower over phone, whatsapp, SMS, email and what not! I a large library
this suggestion may be feasible, again what we consider large in India may
be just laughable elsewhere in the west. Collecting incremental fines is
just a deterrent.
Dr P Vyasamoorthy
040-27846631 / 09490804278 / +918179386472
How to prevent +91 14099 31028 from sending spam calls - Nothing seems to
work.
On Wed, 13 Feb 2019 at 17:11, Dp Tripathi
Does the provision of Incremental Fine fulfill the Five Laws of Library Science?
Five Laws of Library Science enunciated by Dr. S. R. Ranganathan says that 1. Books are for use. 2. Every Book Its reader 3. Every reader his/her book 4. Save the time of Reader 5. Library is a growing organism
We the Library Professionals value the above laws to great extent in libraries and try to maximum implement in all aspects but when it comes to Incremental Fine, it raises many questions and in the queue of questions, first question is “Does the provision of incremental fine fulfill the five laws?” Question seems very simple and many of us may say “YES” but some of us may also say “NO” and I am one of NO category.
The provision of Incremental Fine creates burden for library users and get pressure from library to return the book on time else s/he will have to pay compulsorily the fine amount next to normal fine as per rule of incremental fine. But, why a user should pay extra amount? Here above laws of library science seems violated. Whey we say Books are for use, Every book it’s reader, Every reader his/her then why libraries are imposing extra fine. If the libraries have to get the book back, they may easily RECALL book or block the user so that s/he will not be eligible to avail services as punishment for violating the rule of not returning the book on time but collecting the extra charges from library users seems like ‘library considers incremental fine as source of revenue’
As a result, this provision may kill the interest of library patron and next time, perhaps s/he may not will to issue any book from library. Perhaps, library may lose the patron interest for visiting library too next time and forever. This may also lead to pass the information by that user to other library users about the negative aspects and as a fear, the other users may stop utilizing the issue/return service of library
My question is – “Is it compulsory to impose extra amount, in case user does not return book?”
If s/he is not returning book, let the normal fine be imposed as per library policy? Why Incremental Fine?
Your suggestions are expected and welcome.
Thanks DP Tripathi
-- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Dear Dr. Tripathi and Professionals,
Document overdue charges are basically meant for disciplining the counter
transactions. Not all libraries follow the fine system, which may vary from
Rs.0.50 - 5.00/- with or without incremental fine. Many a times it depends
upon type of libraries and some libraries may not charge any fine at all.
Let us take an example of a library, which charges Rs.1.00 /day uniformly.
Suppose a student/staff member borrows an important reference/text book
and keeps the book till his annual exam. Then he will say he has lost the
book. You may charge Rs. 200-250 fine over and above the cost of the book.
In spite of this he won't bother to return the document. Will it not affect
other students? Will it not come in the way one or two Laws of Library
Science? How many copies of documents a library can afford to buy. One can
follow a combination of measures including recall, debarring from library
and punitive action from the institute, etc. There are other measures like
Text Book Section for long term borrowing in Academic Libraries.
Incremental fine is one of the method and not necessarily the only method.
But definitely it forces the borrower to return the document, enabling
other to borrow. The announcement about the development of a patch for Koha
for incremental fine is a good development especially in the context of
Indian Libraries. To adopt it it or not it is left to individual libraries
depending upon their situation and decision of their management. There is
no need for us to link incremental fine or for that matter even the very
fine system with Five Laws of Library Science.
Regards,
Dr I.R.N. Goudar
"Access E-Resources for Academic and Research Excellence"
*- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -*
Dr. I.R.N. Goudar
- Adjunct Professor, Mangalore University
- Ex. Visiting Professor Cum Library Adviser
Bangalore University Library, BANGALORE - 560056
- Ex. Visiting Professor Cum Library Adviser, UoM, Mysore
- Ex. Scientist 'G' and Head, ICAST, NAL, Bangalore
- Ex. Dy Librarian, IITM, Chennai
- Ex. Scientist (Information), IICT, Hyderabad
- Fulbright Scholar, Univ. of Michigan and Columbia Univ, USA (1995-96)
- British Council Scholar (1982-83)
E-mail: goudarishwar@gmail.com
Mob: 91+9611165781
On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 5:11 PM Dp Tripathi
Does the provision of Incremental Fine fulfill the Five Laws of Library Science?
Five Laws of Library Science enunciated by Dr. S. R. Ranganathan says that 1. Books are for use. 2. Every Book Its reader 3. Every reader his/her book 4. Save the time of Reader 5. Library is a growing organism
We the Library Professionals value the above laws to great extent in libraries and try to maximum implement in all aspects but when it comes to Incremental Fine, it raises many questions and in the queue of questions, first question is “Does the provision of incremental fine fulfill the five laws?” Question seems very simple and many of us may say “YES” but some of us may also say “NO” and I am one of NO category.
The provision of Incremental Fine creates burden for library users and get pressure from library to return the book on time else s/he will have to pay compulsorily the fine amount next to normal fine as per rule of incremental fine. But, why a user should pay extra amount? Here above laws of library science seems violated. Whey we say Books are for use, Every book it’s reader, Every reader his/her then why libraries are imposing extra fine. If the libraries have to get the book back, they may easily RECALL book or block the user so that s/he will not be eligible to avail services as punishment for violating the rule of not returning the book on time but collecting the extra charges from library users seems like ‘library considers incremental fine as source of revenue’
As a result, this provision may kill the interest of library patron and next time, perhaps s/he may not will to issue any book from library. Perhaps, library may lose the patron interest for visiting library too next time and forever. This may also lead to pass the information by that user to other library users about the negative aspects and as a fear, the other users may stop utilizing the issue/return service of library
My question is – “Is it compulsory to impose extra amount, in case user does not return book?”
If s/he is not returning book, let the normal fine be imposed as per library policy? Why Incremental Fine?
Your suggestions are expected and welcome.
Thanks DP Tripathi
-- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
participants (3)
-
Dp Tripathi -
Ishwar Goudar -
Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy