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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
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To: Dayuhan who wrote (17090)4/18/2000 1:59:00 PM
From: nihil  Read Replies (1) of 769667
 
When I was a kid I worked as a page for the Atlanta public library three hours a day after school. After work, I would take a stack of overdue notices and call on the addresses and try to retrieve the overdue books and collect the fine -- 1 cent per day. I was very polite, and would accept the book even if the fine was unpaid, although I explained that it was a public convenience since I got paid out of fines. It worked out pretty well, since we got most of the books back unless people had died or even worse had to move to Alabama.
When I moved to Hawaii I discovered that they didn't charge fines for overdue books. They just wouldn't let you check out any more until you brought them back or paid for lost books. The system worked well, cost nothing, and Hawaii had a very high rate of public library circulation. A new librarian thought it was terrible that people were not punished for not returning books, so a system of big fines was instituted (with frequent mistakes from an expensive but flawed new computer system made necessary by the fines). People started refusing to pay the fines, and then stopped using the library. The library turned over the charges to a collection agency which harassed defaulters but collected few books. The system was finally fixed by a new librarian who chose a supplier who only selected books that no one wanted to read (such as "Raising Goats for Fun and Profit"). People stopped reading books and the librarians had a perfect library ---full of books, silent and undisturbed by pesky readers. The librarian was fired and fled to Maryland where he was recently fired for making racialist remarks.
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