Library News

Need to pay an overdue fine or purchase a CD, but don’t have cash or Deacon Dollars? ZSR Library now accepts payment by credit card for DVD and CD purchases, overdue fines, and replacement fees. We accept VISA, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.

Join the ZSR Library staff for a video game night and tournament on Friday, January 30th, 2009 from 7-11pm. Register in advance to reserve a seat for gaming or just drop by during the event for some entertainment and pizza! To register email itc@wfu.edu

Beginning in early January, the Z. Smith Reynolds Library will charge overdue fines on DVDs.After a two day grace period, fines will accrue at $1 a day.If the DVD has been recalled by someone else, overdue fines will accrue at $5 a day.As this will be unwelcome news for some of our patrons, we would like to explain why we have come to this decision.

We have long had a problem with borrowers who check out DVDs from the collection and then neglect to return them until long after the due date.Our DVD collection is very heavily used, and we only own one copy of most DVDs.One person keeping an item beyond its due date can impact many others who want to use it.

More often than not, emails sent indicating an item is overdue or has been recalled get no response, and we do not have access to telephone numbers for the majority of our borrowers.Therefore, we are implementing these fines, not to penalize delinquent borrowers, but to benefit our entire community of users.

We are also implementing other changes which should ease matters for those who may need DVDs longer than 3 days.We will email courtesy notices to borrowers one day before the due date.As long as the DVD in question does not have a hold or recall placed on it by another patron, the borrower will be able to renew it twice, for three-day periods.We will publicize the link to the website where eligible items may be renewed.We will continue to work with faculty to be sure their needs for items related to course instruction are met.

We hope the fine structure will not discourage usage of the collection and that it will make our DVDs more readily available to all our patrons.If you have any questions about this policy, please contact Mary Beth Lock, Head of Access Services, at ext. 6140 or lockmb@wfu.edu.