help me make the libary work for our family - Page 2

[MommaCrystal]

I just have to say this is a huge problem in my house too!  I've tried insisting the books are all returned to the same spot in my living room, but then they stopped reading the books!  They want to take them all over the house!  They typically read in their beds at night or during their afternoon rest.  They like to sit in a lounge chair outside and read.  They enjoy taking their books to their art table in order to try and duplicate the drawings.  They enjoy taking them to the playroom in order to act out the story or build a block structure similar to what they see in the book.  When I set the rule that they had to be returned to the living room they just stopped even looking at them.

We've stopped taking books out too.  It is just so stressful trying to keep track of them.  But it is SO sad!  I just don't know what to do either.

[OkiMom]

I'm a bit of a library book Nazi I have to admit I use to volunteer at a library repairs books people had messed up so I've seen what improper use does to books. My library book rules:

From one county (we live 20-30 minutes from 2 different libraries in two different counties) We check out 20 books every week, we go weekly to story time. Every week we turn in the books from the previous week.

From the second county we check out max 10 books since its farther away. We go there about every other week since its near a nice park we go to for playtime/to meet up with people.

The receipt for the books are kept on the fridge, eventually I want to get a bulletin board but haven't yet. I highlight the due date, I also mark it on the calender. The books are kept up on the top of my dresser, in two different stacks depending on which library they came from. If the girls want to look at a book they can each look at one. If they want another one they have to return the book they have to me. They can only look at books on their beds, on the living room couch or in my bedroom. If they are rough with the books I take them from them. On Tuesday (story time is Wednesday) I collect all the books and put them in our library bag then put the bag in the car.

If you are SURE you turned something in and its not on the shelf then ask them to check the book drop (if you used one). We turned in a book into the book drop and they insisted we didn't. While we went back to double check it wasn't at home the librarian checked the drop, ended up it fell behind the box and no one had checked behind like they were suppose to.

[amma_mama]

I would set up "library bags or bins" in a few places around the house where the kids do most of their reading and require that it immediately gets returned there or its confiscated until it is due for return. We also have a general rule that library books cannot leave the house except to be returned to the library, so if we cannot find it immediately, I know that it will eventually show up. Most library will refund fines if the lost books are eventually returned. I would also limit the number of books they can take out to keep it manageable.

We also just got DD a Nook for reading and check out ebooks which are automatically returned to the library when due. While the selection is smaller, she does have a lot of reading options at any given time and there is less to keep track of.

[starling&diesel]

Great post kathymuggle! 

My dd is only two and half, but we are a huge library family here already.  We drag the wheeled shopping cart full of books to the library a couple of times a week and refill it. 

I was a library brat when I was a kid, and had to pay for my fines too.  My mom stopped buying me books when I was eight and read all five of the chapter books she'd bought (to last our whole vacation) on the cross-country flight at the beginning of our holidays.  We didn't have a lot of money, so we couldn't afford new books, especially if I was going to gobble them up at that pace. 

We have one designated basket for library books, so they don't get placed in with our own books on our bookshelves.  The only other place they end up is on the bedside table.  But we have a pretty small, minimalist household so lost things rarely occur, and when they do, it's usually because we've taken it out of the house and left it somewhere .... including library books.  We pay to replace three or four kids books a year, but that's not so bad when you think we take out 20-30 books a week, plus 3 or 4 for me. 

We probably pay about $60 a year in overdue fines JUST FOR ME, because our library does not charge overdue fines on books taken out on children's cards.  I wonder if you're interested in proposing this to your library board, along with your experience with dd preferring not to go at all rather than use her allowance to pay for overdue fines?

We do have on-line renewing as well, and could use that if they charged on children's books.

I would still use the library, even if dd had to pay fines on her overdue books.  It supports our local library, and helps keeps the book population to a dull roar at our house.  I love having 'new' books all the time.  I remember when I was a child (about 6-8yrs old) I went through a phase of paying a lot of fines.  I got better as I got older!  (Unless you think $60 a year is still bad!)  It was awesome when we lived in a town that had NO fines.  They found that when they changed over to NO fines whatsoever, that the number of people using the library skyrocketed and the number of books that were late or lost forever didn't get worse, but got better!  I wish more libraries could do that. 

Originally Posted by kathymuggle 

Most books are not lost forever.  Renew a few times while you find them.

Let your DD know that if she finds the book most of her money will be returned.

Another idea is to set aside perhaps 1$ per week for library issues - it is not much money, but it will cover most issues.

Some items (DVDs!) have higher fees than others.  Some people limit or avoid them

Many libraries have fine amnesty months - my branch offers Food For Fines in December - bring in a canned good, they will waive fines.  Others waive fines during library month (October).  Check and see.  

Play around with spots to store library books in the house - we have them on the piano atm and that is working.

I wouldn't let fines come between me and borrowing books if at all possible.  

[Attached Mama]

Just to reiterate what some previous posters have said.... ask your library to check the shelves (or check yourself). I've had this problem about 3 times in the last 6 months alone - the library says something is overdue and then finds it on their shelves.

We've never lost any books and I don't think we pay more than $10 a yr in fines, if that. We usually return books long before they are overdue.

Regading 50 + books out of the library... wouldn't it be easier to go more often and get fewer books? Do you really use that many books in a week or two? I thought we were book worms lol - but we never do more than maybe 10 or so a week.

[SweetSilver]

Originally Posted by Attached Mama 

Regading 50 + books out of the library... wouldn't it be easier to go more often and get fewer books? Do you really use that many books in a week or two? I thought we were book worms lol - but we never do more than maybe 10 or so a week.

Oh yeah!  We visit the library every week, sometimes even more often than that.  We regularly have about 100 books out at any given time (mainly picture books) and we read them all over and over.  Some are hits, some aren't and head back to library after a short while.  Checking out so many, for us, means that we can afford to experiment a bit and bring home a book (or 20) on a whim.  Plus, I reserve hoards of books on whatever subject they are interested in.  My 4.5yo loves guidebooks, so I picked up a handful.  One was on rocks and gems.  My 6.5yo loved the sparkly gems, so I reserved more just on gems.  Out of 15 I reserved and brought home, we've whittled down to two really excellent one she loves.

     And we do read at least a dozen (picture) books every day, and usually more.  This is on top of the chapters from Pippi Longstocking, the LOTR, Winnie the Pooh from our own shelves .   You could say that less would be more, but we love reading! And I think of Meryl Streep's line from One True Thing: MORE IS MORE!  Using the library as we do brings us great joy.
 

[mama2mygirl]

My dd is 8 and I have a young  toddler.  Our books live in a book basket in our apartment's entryway. It's a great system about not losing books. Our problem is when we get really busy and forget to turn them in on time.  This happens about four times a year when my daughter is in a play or a recital and we are going to rehearsal after rehearsal and I am doing tons of volunteer stuff along with homeschooling.

Maybe one book a time and less trips to the library? Plus, always putting books back in the same place took a few weeks but now it's habit.

[KikaKika]

Just posting some interesting info for NYC mamas: NYPL is participating in "Read Down Your Fines" program until Sept 9th, 2011. Check out for more info:

http://www.nypl.org/readdown/faq

For other places - definitely check if your local library is participating in similar programs! :)

[zebra15]

Originally Posted by KikaKika 

Just posting some interesting info for NYC mamas: NYPL is participating in "Read Down Your Fines" program until Sept 9th, 2011. Check out for more info:

http://www.nypl.org/readdown/faq

For other places - definitely check if your local library is participating in similar programs! :)

I wanna go to the NYC library.  Plus I want an "educator card" that looks really cool.

Puts my library systems to shame.