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[britmom]

I didn't have chance to post this today, but I'm still fuming....I know that this is mostly my fault, but I had a bunch of library books out, and forgot to renew them. (I've been ill, as has Britbaby, combined with a ridiculous amount of marking.) I remembered yesterday, and went to the library to renew them. In total, there were about 10 books that were around 2 weeks overdue. £58! None of them were needed by students. I felt like stamping my feet and making a scene, but figured I'd be wasting my time. When compared with my last institution, which didn't fine staff for late books, providing they weren't recalled (plus books were issued for a year, instead of 4 weeks), this is ridiculous. Combine that with the £2.40 per day to park, and I feel like I'm being robbed by my own employer. (It was 50p per day to park when I arrived 4 years ago, and this is not somewhere with high road congestion, or a shortage of space.)

Is my institution normal within the UK, or is this daylight robbery?

[hollow_man]

You have to pay library fines at your own school?

I have yet to hear of faculty actually paying fines anywhere I've gone or worked...

[science_expat]

We have to pay fines although I think a standard loan time for academic staff is 2-3 months. (I never use books so am not sure.)

We pay £12.50 a month (deducted from our paychecks) to park and scream bloody murder.

[wegie]

I am carefully resisting the temptation to make a point about your institution being Scottish and hard up. No, really, this really is resisting :-)

But three months loan for staff or postgraduate students has been the norm anywhere I've been.

Paying to park is, alas, now the norm. Of course, at my last place, actually getting the parking permit in the first place was the really difficult bit. Instead of all those awfully convoluted university murders they had in the latter parts of Morse and now in Lewis, they should have had a plot where somebody was offed for their parking permit . . . that would be infinitely more believable, especially in the context of the parking wars that ensued after chemistry built their new building on the last car park in the science area :-)

[empyrean_aisles]

You have to pay library fines at your own school?

I have yet to hear of faculty actually paying fines anywhere I've gone or worked...

Just yesterday I learnt that faculty at my uni have to pay fines on library books. Fortunately my bill is £2 rather than £58 though. Sympathies, Britmom.

[expatinuk]

We don't pay to park. I don't know about library fines because I don't use books (they are out of date by the time they are published for my field).

[scotia]

We pay fines but are allowed to take books out until the library stock check in July. The only time I had to pay was when a book was recalled while I was teaching overseas and instead of sending me email notification - which I would have seen and asked my secretary to return the book - they sent the reminder by snail mail to home. We nearly had a big falling out as my account clearly states 'email notification'.

I currently pay £24 per month for my university parking permit. It has more than doubled in 8 years and I know that the price will go up again in January. On Jan 1st I move to an institution with free parking - but finding a space is challenging after 9 am.

[expatinuk]

On Jan 1st I move to an institution with free parking - but finding a space is challenging after 9 am.

That's how it is at my institution. You either get there before 9:10 or you wait until lunchtime and 'steal' a space when someone leaves for lunch.

I go in at lunch time quite often... as it's just as easy to work from home in the morning. All my lectures and tutorials are after 5:00.... well... except for 1 Ph.D. student, who can only see me on Tuesdays at 11:00. This is annoying because I lecture on Monday evenings until 8:00... so I have to get to the University before 9:00 a.m. on Tuesdays to meet with this one flipping doctoral student.

*laugh*

[science_expat]

Our email notification is very good - it's sent 2-3 days before the book is due and you can renew online.

We have a new car park and can now easily get a space not too far away up until 10 or so. If later, I follow ExPat's lead and steal a space at lunch time.

[stitch]

Wow!  No way to appeal I assume?  Seems like there ought to be some leniency.  And as I recall, cash is tight for you right now.  Way to add insult to injury.

[tubbs]

I am carefully resisting the temptation to make a point about your institution being Scottish and hard up. No, really, this really is resisting :-)

My employer also Scottish but most library loans are for a year and books can be renewed online.  Once it was a week past the due day but I still couldn't find where the book has gone - I knew it's somewhere in my house but I just couldn't locate it.  I went to tell the librarian about it and they waived my fines plus gave me another 2 weeks to dig the book out.  Sweet folks here!

[jackalope]

When I was a grad student I once found a while pile of long overdue books in the back of my office. The fines would have been huge. I went to the library one night and reshelved the books. A few days later I went in with my late notice and protested--I returned these books! You have them, I don't! They finally went and checked and rescinded my fines. But the head librarian knew damn well what I ahd done and she glared at me for the rest of my time there.

I am not proud of this.

[ellyn]

I didn't have chance to post this today, but I'm still fuming....I know that this is mostly my fault, but I had a bunch of library books out, and forgot to renew them. (I've been ill, as has Britbaby, combined with a ridiculous amount of marking.) I remembered yesterday, and went to the library to renew them. In total, there were about 10 books that were around 2 weeks overdue. £58! None of them were needed by students. I felt like stamping my feet and making a scene, but figured I'd be wasting my time. When compared with my last institution, which didn't fine staff for late books, providing they weren't recalled (plus books were issued for a year, instead of 4 weeks), this is ridiculous. Combine that with the £2.40 per day to park, and I feel like I'm being robbed by my own employer. (It was 50p per day to park when I arrived 4 years ago, and this is not somewhere with high road congestion, or a shortage of space.)

Is my institution normal within the UK, or is this daylight robbery?

Sounds like robbery to me.  Can they make you pay?  I owe library fines - I just ignore them.  If I want a book, I go to the library and read.

I don't think faculty should have to pay fines - never had to before.

We pay $70.00 a month to park.

[expatinuk]

When I was a grad student I once found a while pile of long overdue books in the back of my office. The fines would have been huge. I went to the library one night and reshelved the books. A few days later I went in with my late notice and protested--I returned these books! You have them, I don't! They finally went and checked and rescinded my fines. But the head librarian knew damn well what I ahd done and she glared at me for the rest of my time there.

I am not proud of this.

I did that too.... *laugh*

[collegekidsmom]

About putting the library books back-believe it or not we really do often just want the books back. If you want to bring them back and say they were there all along, we still have the books back. However, we can also see that they are still charged out to you -meaning they were never returned and discharged. This would be really obvious if you had more than one checked out to you and they all mysteriously ended up back on the shelf. Also, if you did this more than once, that would be obvious too. They are still checked out in the system. There wouldn't normally be any way that books returned through normal channels would not get discharged from your record. I'm sure they are just glad to have them back and don't want to make a big deal. Librarians shouldn't be mean. Strange, my parking department has been nice lately when I tried to appeal two parking tickets. Now, that was unexpected.