mdoneil writes “The Buffalo & Erie County Public libraries are instituting fees for items requested (except juvenile).
To request a DVD or VHS from another branch you have to pay a buck, to request a book twenty-five cents.
I’m not sure how I feel about this policy. On one hand I think library materials should be free – even requesting them from another branch. However they certainly need the money – because the county government seems to waste an awful lot of it. Personally I’d be willing to spend the few bucks a year, but I may have a few extra bucks where some people, especially in WNY may not.”
Cost of shipping
I agree that library materials should be free. But in this case, the library is not charging for the materials – they are charging for the transportation of these materials from one library to another. If someone does not want to pay the request fee, then he can visit the library where the item is located, and pick it up there for no charge. As a Buffalo resident, I frequently use the request system and find it a great convenience. While I’m not crazy about paying money to get my items, I’m willing to do it because I know that the B&ECPL system is in such dire straits.
Well…
As they say, you have to do what you have to do.
I’d hate to institute fees to request materials from other branches. Yet with so many libraries in the financial situations they are, the high cost of gas, the high cost of damn near everything else… Well yeah, I’d hate it, but I’d do it too.
I know nothing about their library system, but in most library systems, the branch is only a car trip away. If I want something really badly, I’ll go get it. I do it all the time with research stuff. I need to write a paper or article or whatever and I need to write it yesterday. I check the ol’ ILS and there’s the book I want at X branch. Yeah, X branch may be 15 miles away, but that’s what cars are for.
Re:Well…
Not everyone can afford cars and the public transport system around here blows chunks.
Re:Well…
Good point. I’ll assume by “here” you mean WNY, there is essentially no public transport outside of the city. Luckily the main branch is close to the one subway, and the buses are decent downtown.
Subway? 🙂
Oh you mean that thing that goes to UB. I thought it was just to take college students downtown to the bars
Re:Subway?
heh. Considering that almost no one lives on the Main St. Campus now, it doesn’t even carry them any more. It’s really nice to have downtown though, when I worked down there we used it all the time.