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Thanks to everyone who responded to this yesterday. Your support and advice is very much appreciated as always. I certainly feel vindicated in our approach to this situation. To sum up, in total I had a response from 27 libraries, who universally agreed with the approach taken. That borrowers are responsible for return or renewal and that notices are simply a courtesy. Several libraries took the view that it may have been a mistake to halve the fine as a token of goodwill, as this is admitting responsibility (I was a little dubious about doing this initially), and nobody would waive the fine completely. Of course, the key is to state this position on all notices and regulations, which I have to say makes me a little sad that we have to remind people of a basic responsibility... Thanks again for all of the help. All the best Paul Systems and Access Services Team Leader Peirson Building University of Worcester Henwick Grove Worcester WR2 6AJ 01905 542055 For the latest news from the ILS Department, take a look at our blog, ILS Matters. -----Original Message----- From: Paul Williams [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 02 December 2008 11:33 To: [log in to unmask] Cc: Paul Williams Subject: Reminders and Fines Just a quick question to everyone to get a feel for what goes on elsewhere... We recently experienced a problem with our email 'underdue' reminders to students (emails sent when a book is due the next day). The reminders were sent from our systems, but our email server failed to deliver them for about a week. As a gesture of goodwill, we've halved the fine for any students who failed to renew their loans and accrued fines because of this, but we also have one student who is determined that this is not good enough, and wants all students fully reimbursed. I've explained that underdues are a courtesy service and it is the responsibility of the borrower to ensure that loans are returned or renewed on time regardless of them, but he does not agree and is determined to take things further. So, I just wondered what the policies of other libraries are? Would you reimburse or not? Kind Regards Paul Williams Team Leader: Systems & Access Services [log in to unmask] University of Worcester