[OPLINLIST] Convenience fee for looking up a card number

[Sue Banks]

I'm listening to a book on CD right now that talks about similar issues and decisions ("Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely) in which the author (behavioral economist from MIT) describes the outcomes of studies in which effort was measured against payment (or lack thereof).  When people pay for a service, there is an accompanying "monetary market" contract in their minds that absolves them of guilt or personal "unwritten" responsibilities and limits their output to "what it's worth to me."  When there is no money involved, there is a "social market" understanding of the exchange (he uses the example of what would happen if you offered your mother-in-law $300 in payment for a great Thanksgiving dinner) which makes people perform better because "it's the right thing to do."   I'll attach a .pdf of the journal article that describes the study and it's outcomes.

Listening to the book has made me think in detail about our inclination in difficult financial times in Library Land to institute fees for services - or perhaps trying to "train" people not to do things that the staff finds irritating or irresponsible, like forgetting their library cards or barcode numbers, by imposing financial costs to the behavior.  There is much evidence in Ariely's studies to indicate that by linking cost recovery fees to previously "free" services, we not only open ourselves to microscopic financial scrutiny for "fairness" and accountability, we also break a long-standing contract with our communities that is primarily a social one, not a market one (the "we never charge for library services" model which I'm beginning to believe has much more muscle than I previously thought).  I'm only about halfway through the book, so there's still lots more to contemplate on the gossamer nature of the support for "free public libraries."

My (and Dan Ariely's) $.02
Sue

Susan Banks, Manager
Erlanger Branch
Kenton County Public Library
401 Kenton Lands Rd.
Erlanger, KY  41018
859-962-4001
Fax: 859-962-4010
http://www.kentonlibrary.org

From: oplinlist-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplinlist-bounces at oplin.org] On Behalf Of Joanne Gilmore
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 10:02 AM
To: oplinlist at oplin.org
Subject: [OPLINLIST] Convenience fee for looking up a card number

Our public can access the internet by logging in with their Library card number.  Many of our customers do not carry their cards with them.

I would be interested in knowing how anyone else handles this situation.  Do you not look up cards at all?  Do you just consider it part of your service and look it up repeatedly for people?

We are thinking about implementing a small "convenience" fee for looking up and writing down a patron card number for those who want to use the internet.  Does any other library have a fee for this?  What amount do you charge?  The first "lookup" would be free then the charge would be effective; it would be tracked by a note in the patron record.  We would not charge for pulling up a patron record to check out, only for writing the number down for them.  Your thoughts  and reactions would be appreciated.


Joanne R. Gilmore
Director
Upper Sandusky Community Library
301 N. Sandusky Ave.
Upper Sandusky, OH 43351
419-294-1345 (voice)
419-294-4499 (fax)
gilmorjo at oplin.org

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