Annette
Agree that this came as a shock and particularly at such short
notice. BL have apologised to us for not giving us more time to
prepare.
We also charge for renewals so we are shortening the initial loan
period to our users to give us enough time to return or give the
option to our reader to renew. According to BL we will get 5 days
grace after the due date to return the item but this will not be long
enough to generate a notice to our reader, get the item back here and
then get it to the BL in time.
We have complained but the BL say it comes down to the huge expense
to them of libraries keeping books overdue - the BL are losing 6.65
for each unofficial extended loan period. I can appreciate this is a
problem for them but having less than a month to introduce these
changes, publicise them, change procedures,standard email messages
and manuals etc is going to be a problem for most libraries I feel,
particularly multi-site libraries like us.
Regards
Elaine
> I have just been reading the British Library's customer update for
> September regarding a change in procedure for renewals of items on
> loan from BL. As from 1 October a new automatic renewal procedure
> will be in place such that at the end of the standard loan period and
> extensions (3 weeks + 3 weeks) a DUE Automatic Renewal Pending code
> will be sent. At this point the item must be returned immediately or
> it will automatically be renewed and £2.50 will be billed to our
> account. Although this system will make it easier to renew when a user
> actually comes and asks to renew an item and in our case, pays for the
> renewal, for items that are just returned late from our users, it is
> the library that will effectively be fined £2.50 for a late return of
> an item. In terms of returning items, it can take 10 days from the
> time a reader returns a book to us to the time it arrives at the BL,
> taking in to account the packing of items, waiting for collection from
> HAYS DX delivery van, and unpacking at BL. What do other libraries
> think about this change to procedure just before the beginning of a
> new term?
>
>
> Annette Moore
>
> Annette Moore
> Interlibrary Requests
> University of Sussex Library
> University of Sussex
> Brighton, BN1 9QL
>
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Telephone: 01273 678162
> Fax: 01273 678441
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Elaine Dean
Manager
Document Supply Service and Distance Learning Unit
Main Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
Tel 0114 222 7245
Fax 0114 222 7290
email= mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/
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