<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Dismayed at NLB's focus on 'bean-counting'
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to the March 11 report, '160,000 library users pay up $500k in dues', on the collection of unpaid fines by the National Library Board (NLB).
I was quite dismayed at the new rules proposed by NLB and have given feedback. NLB has not given me a reply and it is more than two weeks now.
NLB proposes that if a user has any fines outstanding (even 10 cents) in his account, the user will not be allowed to borrow anything.
This is bordering on being mean-spirited.
Is it not ridiculous if a user is barred from borrowing if he has a few cents of a fine outstanding?
What is wrong with the current system which provides some buffer to users before they need to discharge their obligations?
If this buffer - currently the owed amount must be less than $6 - is too high, NLB could reduce it to $3, for example, rather than to zero.
NLB will send reminders every three months to users if there are fines outstanding, and will also charge them an administration fee.
Is this a good idea?
Imagine a user who has an insubstantial fine in his account, perhaps due to late returns. This user goes back to his overseas school after summer vacation or his overseas job posting. His lack of awareness of a small outstanding fine will result in a recurring administrative fee being charged continuously against him - potentially charging him dollars for the cents he owes - until one day he returns to find a huge bill.
Does NLB really require the funds? I also really wonder about the timing of this 'debt collection' exercise.
It gives me the impression that NLB is focused on 'bean-counting' instead of its broader vision of giving access to books and media to the masses. I have always admired our libraries, but this new policy is difficult to understand.
Yew-Kong Tham
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to the March 11 report, '160,000 library users pay up $500k in dues', on the collection of unpaid fines by the National Library Board (NLB).
I was quite dismayed at the new rules proposed by NLB and have given feedback. NLB has not given me a reply and it is more than two weeks now.
NLB proposes that if a user has any fines outstanding (even 10 cents) in his account, the user will not be allowed to borrow anything.
This is bordering on being mean-spirited.
Is it not ridiculous if a user is barred from borrowing if he has a few cents of a fine outstanding?
What is wrong with the current system which provides some buffer to users before they need to discharge their obligations?
If this buffer - currently the owed amount must be less than $6 - is too high, NLB could reduce it to $3, for example, rather than to zero.
NLB will send reminders every three months to users if there are fines outstanding, and will also charge them an administration fee.
Is this a good idea?
Imagine a user who has an insubstantial fine in his account, perhaps due to late returns. This user goes back to his overseas school after summer vacation or his overseas job posting. His lack of awareness of a small outstanding fine will result in a recurring administrative fee being charged continuously against him - potentially charging him dollars for the cents he owes - until one day he returns to find a huge bill.
Does NLB really require the funds? I also really wonder about the timing of this 'debt collection' exercise.
It gives me the impression that NLB is focused on 'bean-counting' instead of its broader vision of giving access to books and media to the masses. I have always admired our libraries, but this new policy is difficult to understand.
Yew-Kong Tham
