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Membership Restrictions for Children of Patrons Owing Money
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Membership Restrictions for Children of Patrons Owing Money
2:25 PM EDT 7/23/07
I am NOT advocating this topic. I've been asked to find out if anyone has a policy regarding limiting or withholding membership or borrowing rights to any patron based on money owed by a family member. I would be interested in getting copies of these policies, or citations of any professional articles on this subject.

Thank you.

Kelly Laney
Springville Road Branch
Birmingham Public Library
Re: Membership Restrictions for Children of Patrons Owing Money
1:18 PM EDT 7/30/07 as a reply to Kelly Laney.
Wow... Thanks for a thought provoking question. I'll believe this will be a very difficult topic. It will more than likely be different depending on several factors, the privacy/confidentiality laws and the responsibility of parents/guardians for minors in your state.

Our policy has been that we do not limit one family members transactions based upon another family members transgressions. We've occasionally talked a bit about it, particularly if you are limiting a parent's/guardian's transactions based upon the actions of their minor child, since they sign legal and financial responsibility for that child's check outs.

Other than a responsible adult and a minor, we would not even consider there to be a responsible relationship.

Good luck!

-Joe
Re: Membership Restrictions for Children of Patrons Owing Money
9:28 AM EDT 8/23/07 as a reply to Kelly Laney.
I know library boards hear about parents who come in with their child's card to check out their own materials (or they drag in the child to check out the parent's materials) and the board then wants to go to some sort of family plan for borrowing, ignoring not only the inherent unfairness, but also the incredible staff overhead it takes to impose such policies. I think such "crimes of the father" policies are bad public policy and also wonder if there isn't a civil rights suit in the offing when such policies are imposed. The library board instead might consider more aggressive collection tactics instead of blocking the cards of other family members. In a small community it also might help to establish that the library card is not transferable--that it can only be used by the cardholder, which may alleviate some of the problem (though create other problems with self-check systems and issues of identification at the circ desk).

John DeBacher
Wisconsin