When Public Libraries Make the News for Hurting Your Credit Rating, The Industry Needs Better PR

You can almost guarantee that when libraries make the news, it's not because they added another bestseller to their collection. The Wall Street Journal reports today (online subscription required; addition: text from print article "A New Threat To Your Credit Rating: Unpaid Parking Tickets, Library Fees Start to Hurt Consumer Credit as Strapped Cities Seek Payment") that some public libraries are using private collection agencies to collect unpaid fines. Unique Management Services alone helps about 750 North American libraries, according to the article.

It's ultimately local municipalities that decide whether unpaid fines are reported to the credit agencies. But when former library patrons like Claude DaCorsi of Portland -- whose credit rating dropped after his library asked a credit agency to pursue an unpaid late fee of $40 -- prevent their children from visiting libraries ("We go to Barnes & Noble now. We can get books there without fear of retribution"), it's clear that libraries have an image problem.

This sort of negative publicity is a shame, because members of the biblioblogosphere understand that in order to draw patrons back into libraries, they've got to start doing things differently. Some, such as Sarah Houghton (via Information Today and Michael Stevens), suggest that libraries go 2.0 (see examples here and here from Superpatron Edward Vielmetti, via the Shifted Librarian) to get with the times:   

"Library 2.0 simply means making your library's space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs.  Examples of where to start include blogs, gaming nights for teens, and collaborative photo sites.  The basic drive is to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives...to make the library a destination and not an afterthought."

How to get the word out? The library industry needs a national, edgy PR campaign that will create a new generation of visitors and draw in those patrons who abandoned libraries a long time ago.

Have librarians themselves be the focus of the campaign. Link to their blogs. Share their ideas. Show why they're oh-so-hip. There are many who don't fall within the librarian stereotype. Here are four to get the list started (who just happen to be women; please let me know who else you think should be included).

• Jessamyn West, librarian.net blogger (see Five Technically Legal Signs for Your Library post) and editor of the book Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out.
• Meredith Farkas, Information Wants To Be Free blogger and co-chair with Michelle Boule of the upcoming the Library and Information Resources Track of HigherEd BlogCon, modeled after Global PR Blog Week.   
• Sarah Houghton, LibrarianInBlack.net blogger ("So, why Librarian In Black, you might ask? I am 100% goth on the inside, and usually on the outside. I have always been identified by patrons as 'that tall librarian who always wears black.' It only seemed natural to accept my position in the world, and embrace the darkness...").
• Erica Olsen, Librarian Avenger blogger (check out Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian).

Update: Claude DaCorsi comments in LibrarianInBlack.net about his library fines mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article referenced above. Based on the information provided by Mr. DaCorsi, it appears that the article didn't explain all the facts involved. Go have a look.

Comments

[Sarah Houghton (LiB)]

Try the librarian bloggers listed here to find more hip librarians: http://www.pubsub.com/lists/librarian.php There are so very, very many of us!

I agree that we do need an edgy PR campaign. Unfortunately, our national association has not come through with this as promised so many times.

And I have to comment about the guy who didn't pay his fines... Libraries are funded by taxpayer money. If a user doesn't return a book, (s)he as in effect stolen public property. The library is duty-bound to try to collect that money back. $40 is a bit low, in my experience, to send someone to collections, but no one racks up $40 in fines without either losing a book or two or three, or keeping a DVD out for 3 weeks after it was due. All libraries send multiple notices of late items and requests for the item to be returned. If the user chooses to disregard that, then yes--we send them to collections. I would think that the public would be pleased that we were going after what is, after all, their money.

[Andrea Weckerle]

Sarah,

Thanks for the link and your input.

Without question, library patrons should either return materials by their due date or request an extension. I've often thought that fines are too low, leaving the impressing that being late with materials or not returning them at all is somehow acceptable.

Having myself spent years in libraries, both during my education and later simply for the enjoyment of it, I would really like to see them effectively promote their services and offerings. And I don't think that's currently being done.

As I said in my post, it's my opinion that a massive PR campaign is needed. After having read several librarian blogs, I believe there are many "librarian activists" that can help get this started, with or without the national association. Feel free to get in touch directly if you'd like to discuss this.

[Paloma Cruz]

It always surprises me that people are shocked when there are repercussions to, essentially, stealing books (or CDs or DVDs or whatever).

Here in Houston, last year, a man went before city council to try to make the library clear his credit report. He had borrowed three books and kept them for nearly a year. He says he never received any letters from the library asking him to return the books, but he kept them for a year so he had to know that they were expected back.

He finally returned the books when he had his credit denied on something and found out that the replacement fees for those books had made it to his credit report. He returned the books, I assume grudgingly, and paid the fined. But he was complaining that penalizing him in his credit report was extreme.

What really infuriated me was that several city council members agreed with him. These are the same CMs that vote to cut the library budget when the city funds start to dwindle, so you'd think they should be the first to try to encourage people to stop stealing from the Library.

Anyway, for a campaign, I've always liked the "Share the Thrill" artwork at SSDesign.

[K.G. Schneider]

Er, I think I'm kind of hip, as is Jenny Levine (Shifted Librarian)... and quite a few others. The biblioblogosphere is not short of hip female (or female-identified) librarians...

On the fines, I plan to post on this myself. I have two thoughts: first, he shoulda paid, but also, I agree with the message we send through tiny fines and sometimes lackluster follow-through. I can't speak for this library, though; I don't know how aggressively they sent the message, yo, we're about to mess with your credit rating.

Good post, good thread.

[Sandra Stewart]

When I first got a DVD player, we rented a DVD from Blockbuster that we didn't return for something like 3 weeks - the fine? Over 40 bucks! Here in libraryland, there are maxes to fines per item - you'll never see a fine like that. As Librarians, we have to be responsible custodians of the public's investment of taxpayer dollars. Public Libraries are such a bargain - access to millions of dollars worth of material for an annual tax of something between $30 and $75 a year. Just bring it back on time so your neighbor can use it!

[Serge Cornelus]

I agree: good post, and true too. Is it a sign of the times that people display more and more 'shamelessness' (thé trend for 2006 according to Peter Verhelst, one of Belgium's finest writers if you ask me - check out a local library near you to see if they have any translations of his work)? Anyway: I try and teach our kids that we must bring our books back on time. Fortunately, they seem to be picking up on that: now they're actualling asking me already if it's not time to return them yet...

[Andrea Weckerle]

Thank you everyone for commenting here! I see the fines issue has hit a nerve with many. You already know how I feel about fines: bring the borrowed materials back on time or pay up.

Which gets back to my original point. It would be great if the frustration so many feel about unpaid fines could be channeled towards effectively promoting libraries as a cool place to hang out. Now, "cool" or "hip" or whatever word you want to use may not resonate with everyone, but my concern is that libraries are too often an afterthought.

Why not learn something from bookstores? Some of the larger chains have turned bookstores into a comfortable place to kick back and relax (great big cushy chairs), grab a small bite to eat and drink (separate cafe area), meet friends and talk, and even conduct business meetings. Yes, bookstores have their own problems with greater competition, smaller profit margins, etc. But I'd like to hear people start saying "hey, let's meet at the library" with the same frequency I currently hear them say, "I'll meet you at xyz bookstore."

There will always be reasons given for why this can't be done; I'm interested in finding out how to do it anyway.

[Sandra Stewart]

Andrea - you should come by my branch library sometime. We have comfortable chairs, a fireplace, dozens of public access computers, we've contracted with a coffee vendor to put a coffee bar into the cafe area - just about everything you're suggesting we've been putting into place in our new branches in San Jose. (sorry - just had to brag!) And the response is tremendous! We're the busiest branch in the system - this summer over 2000 people per day!

[Andrea Weckerle]

Sandra, I'll be sure to stop by when I'm in town. Your library sounds great!

[Paloma Cruz]

The problem with following the lead of the bookstores is that when someone destroys an item in a bookstore, they are made responsible for it. In library-land, when we make people responsible (with fines, etc.) it damages our image.

I'm going to pull a quote from a letter in the Dallas Morning News which ran last month in response to another letter criticizing the library for enforcing their rules:

>Meanwhile, other libraries and librarians
>hold steadily to the
>no-eating-and-no-drinking rule. Why would a
>librarian not want patrons to relax and
>enjoy their meals with the books? The
>answer is partly a response to the "I am a
>patron" mentality many people adopt in
>social settings.
>
>The "patron" leaves peanuts and gooey
>nachos on the floor in sports arenas,
>popcorn and half-full cups of soft drinks
>on floors in movie theaters and picks up a
>box of cookies on Aisle 8 in the grocery
>store, only to stick it anywhere on Aisle
>15 when he changes his mind about making
>the purchase. The "patron" litters and
>creates messes for someone else to clean up
>because he or she feels no responsibility
>for the place – the sports arena, the
>grocery store, the movie theatre or ... the
>library.

Yep. That about sums it up.

[another librarian]

Wow. I didn't realize there were still libraries that didn't allow food or beverage. All the ones around here do.

We have free wireless, big comfy chairs, meeting rooms that can be scheduled, a fireplace, food, a used bookstore, and a silent study area... We're also generally incredibly busy. The only downside is that we do require a certain level of decorum. If I can clearly hear your table 100 feet away, you're being too loud.

So whenever people compare libraries to bookstores, I look at my library and think, "Why are they complaining about what we should be? Have they actually visited?"

Regarding fines, most libraries in this area charge about .10 a day and have a fine cap per item. Considering that hold lists for popular items in the county sometimes have more than 700 people on them, I think that's reasonable as a way to encourage people to return the items in a timely manner.

And finally... how the heck do you rack up $15 on fines on two items that were only a few days late? (Or $40, according to the Wall Street Journal.) I'd certainly be interested in knowing what library this is and what their fine structure is.

[Serge Cornelus]

I know it's probably hard for any of you to come over and check out, but the library here in Ghent even has a library café. And yes, it is a place about which people actually say 'Let's meet at the library.' But I admit: more libraries should follow their lead. Too many of them still hang on to the old 'Ssssht' approach all over the place. Which is okay for a reading room, but with so many libraries yearning for more clients, a more welcoming setting could do the trick. Of course, Paloma has a point that some people leave their garbage wherever they go. Bot not everybody does that. Why should it always be 'the good' that have to suffer for 'the bad'. That's uhm, well ugly... ;-)

[pdxblogger]

By the time a fine from one of the public libraries in Portland reaches collections there have been so many notifications that I can not imagine that Mr. we-go-to-Barnes-&-Noble-now was unaware of the fine situation. And since when is asking for debt to be paid "retribution"? If he'd pait that $40 just think how much he would have saved in the long run at B&N!

[James Princeton]

You say "it's clear that libraries have an image problem" But maybe this guy with the bad credit has an honesty problem. Or maybe he IS the problem. What kind of jerk skips out on a $40 bill and then pretends he was a victim? You know what doctor's offices do if you owe em 40 bucks and don't pay it back? Hey, they take you to court. What do you know, refuse to pay your bills and you get in trouble. Duh. What does it matter whether it is the cable company, the phone company, the doctor, Visa, or a city agency? Try blowing off $40 of your city property tax and see what happens to your credit rating. Buck up, Claude DaCorsi of Portland, and pay your stinkin bills. Isn't the point of fines to get people to bring back the books so other people can use em? Why should the rest of tax payers suffer because Calude can't be bothered to return his books?

[Esther Jacobs]

I cannot resist posting a reply to the comment that "We go to Barnes & Noble now. We can get books there without fear of retribution". Of course they don't! Barnes and Noble charges $25 or more for one book in the first place. Unlike B&N, when it comes to libraries we're talking free. I'll never understand how people can shell out $40 or more to chain bookstores, but complain about the consequences of their own misuse of a free service.