Light Hearted Books for Book Groups

In July 2008 Steve at Libbie Cass Library in Springfield said, "My book group has declared in no uncertain terms that we've read too many depressing, heavy books of late and want something that is light hearted, if not laugh out loud funny, and upbeat and uplifting would be considered pluses as well. Any suggestions?"

Here are the suggestions he received (in no particular order):

1) Janet Evanovich (many suggested this)
2) Bill Bryson (on several people's lists)
3) Walking to Egypt (multiple suggestions)
4) Home to Harmony
5) No 1 Ladies Detective Agency (again multiple suggestions)
6) Wilbur Winkle Has a Complaint
7) A Year Down Yonder and A Long Way From Chicago (although they are YA
books)
8) Travels With Charlie
9) The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (a couple mentioned this one)
10) David Sedaris
11) Kick Me
12) Rita May Brown
13) Dave Barry
14) A Girl Named Zippy (although I was warned against the sequel)
15) Tender at the Bone
16) Fried Greed Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
17) Last Days of Summer
18) Standing in the Rainbow
19) Funny in Farsi
20) True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
21) The Mammy
22) Stern Men
23) Farewell my Subaru
24) Sophie Kinsella (Can You Keep a Secret)
25) Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood
26) The Garden club and the Kumquat Campaign
27) Rebecca Rule (several suggested her)
28) Carl Hiaasen (again several suggested this)
29) Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
30) Big Stone Gap (several suggested)
31) Jeanne Ray (Julie and Romeo)
32) The Spellman Files
33) Pontoon
34) Never Have Your Dog Stuffed
35) Miss Julia series

A second installment of replies included:
1) I Feel bad About My Neck
2) Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (I loved Slowly Down the Ganges but the group didn’t like it, maybe you have to have traveled in India to find it
funny)
3) P.G. Wodehouse (my first thought when the group wanted light-hearted—-finally someone (actually a couple of folks) suggested it)
4) J. Weiner books (several recommended her)
5) I Capture the Castle
6) Peter Mayle
7) Secret Life of Lobsters
8) Bridget Jones (chick lit)
9) Tony Bourdain
10) Zorro by Allende

Quite a few books or authors on the lists were recommended multiple times by different libraries. I'm a little surprised that Lorna Landvik was never suggested but perhaps folks were looking more for the out and out funny. Which is probably why Maeve Binchy's name didn't show up.

Additionally, I (Mary Russell) would suggest Annie Friedman's Fabulous Travelling Funeral. It has some sad parts, but is a totally "feel-good" book and some of it is quite funny. The various choices the characters make about their lives would provide a lot of material for discussion.

Labels on CDs and DVDs

On June 23, 2008 Sandra at Tracy Memorial Library sent this inquiry to the NHAIS list: "We have a patron who claims that our foil-back label, which we use to identify our A/V material as belonging to us, curled up while in her car's CD player, perhaps due to heat, and caused much damage. Has this happened to anyone else? These labels are supposed to adhere permanently and resist heat.We started using these foil labels because we thought permanent markers were not okay to use on CD/DVDs. But now I see that there are CD/DVD marker pens specifically for this purpose. What's the deal?"

Here is her summary of the responses:

I've received enough feedback to determine that CD & DVD labels are a bad idea, esp. with CDs and cars and heat. Please, if your library hasn't started using them, don't. So while we are going to discontinue, we aren't going to try to go back and remove all the labels already in place. This can damage the discs and take up infinite time. The safest marker to use is non-solvent based (i.e., water-based), permanent and felt-tipped; write in the clear inner hub of the unused side.
Very helpful is the Council on Library and Information Resources 'Care & Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists' , esp. sections 5.2.5 and 5.2.7. Thanks so much. Individual responses are below.
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This happens all the time. Use a permanant marker instead.
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Any marker works. Don't put it on the business side of the item being played, and you'll be all right.
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Oh yes, we had that happen to us. Same thing, a patron got a CD stuck in her player in her car and the dealership told her that the label was the culprit. Luckily, her car was still under warranty and they didn't charge her so she didn't have to charge us to get it out. We no longer use the labels. I just use an extra fine point sharpie and mark the CDs and DVDs with that. I have not had a problem using the markers. It's crazy. Those labels are fairly expensive.
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I have a great volunteer who used to work for the Dept. of Defense trouble-shooting missiles and rockets and such. His job was to look for things that would go wrong. He's wonderful here - does a ton of work for us - but he can drive me crazy with Things That Might Go Wrong.
When I started using the foil-backed labels he said, "Great, until they come off in someone's machine and they sue you." Oy vey. So I've lived in fear for four years. NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. Yet. (And, of course, I've just jinxed myself.)
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We had this happen (several times) once people had multiple disc players in their vehicles. At least two users had to send their players out to have them removed by professionals. We no longer use those labels except on DVDs. We write the name of our Library on each disc with a permanent marker.
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My cousin just bought a new Ford and the (6) cd player had a warning (exact words forgotten) about not playing cd's with stickers on them. Obviously many of our audio cd's get used in cars, and we have used stickers for audio books and music on cd. Trying markers now - but which marker and where to mark?
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Heat (or illegal copying) run afoul with any library label system It is ok to right with markers (on the unused side) of any DVD or CD.
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You can write on the tops as long as the DVD is not used on both sides. There are some DVD's that have Wide Screen on one side and Full screen on the other. You cannot write on those. I usually write around the center hole. And a Sharpie works fine.
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I know that sometimes labels cause a spin balance problem and make it impossible to read teh disc (the NHSL just had this trouble and asked me for replacements to a newspaper archive cd set I had provided)
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We have always used permanent markers with no problems so far.
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We use the markers because labels can be affected by heat and can cause an imbalance so they do not play correctly.
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Square foil backed labels on our CD's and DVD's have been a cause of problems for us. Twice a patron came to us saying she had to have her CD player serviced because of the labels. Once she had to have her player replaced and once she presented us with a copy of the bill which stated the label was the cause of the malfunction. She asked for some restitution. (She didn't get any.)
We took all the CD's off the shelves. It is taking a long time to remove these labels with Goo Gone and we write our library name with magic marker on the disc. I have tried to get volunteers to help and too much of the time the disc gets ruined or they use too much Goo Gone leaving a mess. The problem is that the square label makes the disc spin off center. Then the label catches on the player and gets stuck. We have had no problem with the round labels used on the center of the disc. These we only use when black magic marker will not show up on a dark colored disc.
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We use pre-printed labels from Gaylord and have not had any trouble. We've also used the paper labels and Dymo label maker, no problems there either. I wonder how long the CD sat in her hot car before she inserted it into the player?
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We have had this discussion here and I submit that there is no reason why one has to mark each disc and risk any issues. If a patron has checked out a CD book or DVD or bluray, then this should be enough for them to find the item(s). Of course, the package is clearly marked with all the library contact information both on the outside and inside. (we put a label on the back and inside the CD and DVD boxes. Even with "sharpie" pens you can damage a DVD ...less on an issue with CD's

Fax Services at the Library

Weeks Public Library asked (3/12/08) Does anyone offer faxing for patrons? If so, what do you charge? Do you charge per fax or by pages sent? Do you limit pages sent per call? Who actually sends the fax, staff or patron?

Here are the responses they recieved:

For comparison:
Kinkos in Portsmouth charges $1.49 for page one and $1.00 for each additional page for local calls. For long distance they charge $2.49 for page one and $1.49 for each additional page. Faxes received are $1.49 a page. For International faxes they charge $5.99 for page one and $3.99 for each additional page. There is some type of a discount for large faxes, so a 60 page fax (we’ve had a 60 page fax within the last two weeks and the patron was charged $1.00) would cost $59.90.

Staples in North Hampton offers a free Staples Cover Sheet and charges $1.50 for page one and $1.00 for each additional page. Out of state is $2.00 for page one and $1.50 for each additional page. Incoming Fax domestic is $1.00 page. Outgoing International is $5.00 for page one and $3.99 for additional pages.

• We offer free faxing, as we don't send that many a year. It's one service we can offer the town.
• We do offer faxing. $1 per sent page, $2 per received page. Some patrons do it themselves, often I do it for them. The service is popular, so here in [town] I would up the price before deleting the service. We have no policy as to pages sent. the most we have ever sent is 7. I don't let them send cover pages, big waste of resources.
• We charge $1.00 to send a fax (no limit - haven't found that to be necessary) and $1.00 to receive up to 10 pp, after that it's an additional .10/p. We send the fax ourselves, because people might not know how to use the machine (which way the paper goes, etc) and because we use a calling card (.03/min) for all long distance and we have to put the code in when we dial.
• no we don't (offer fax service)
• We fax for our patrons. Two dollars for the first page and one dollar for each page there after. International is five dollars for first page and three dollars after. Receptions are one dollar per page. A staff member does the fax because the machine is located in the office.
  No limit.
• $3.00 for first page; $1.00 for additional. If a cover page is needed for a multi-page fax, that is free. Then there is the question of faxes to 800 numbers. We're inconsistent about those. With the exception of one fax, we make BIG money on this service. The cost of most sent faxes is less than a dollar. Even the overseas ones haven't been expensive. Actually because our machine uses a carbon paper roll, receiving faxes is more expensive and we only charge $.15 per page for those.
• We do have a FAX machine available for public use, and have had for at least 7 or more years. The cover page is free, the first page is $1.00, and each subsequent page is .25.
  -To receive a FAX the charge is .25 per page.
  -If an international FAX is being sent we charge $7.00 for the first page and .25 for each subsequent page.
  We haven't revisited our pricing, so I would be interested to see what you find out.
• Here in [town] we do fax for patrons. We charge $2.00 for faxes up to 5 pages and if it is more than 5 we charge .50 for each additional page it does not matter if they are local or not. The staff does send all the faxes as the fax machine is in a back office so we have that control. We have also had patrons send faxes here to the library and we charge $1.00 per page.
• We do offer FAX services. The staff does the sending. We do not limit pages. $1.00 for first page, .50 each additional. International: $5.00 first page, 1.00 each additional Receiving faxes: .10 per page
• In [town], we charge $1.00 for the first page and .50 for any extra pages; no limit of pages sent. The staff does the sending because of where the fax machine is located.
• Yes, we fax documents for patrons. We charge $1/page and a staff member does the faxing. We don't limit the number of pages, but to date no-one has faxed more than 5 or 6 pages at a time.
• We charge $3 for the first page and $1 for each page after. No limit, the staff sends the fax. Haven't had any quibbles from anyone. They seem to just be glad of the service.
• Loudon charges $3.00 for the first page and $1.00 for additional pages. We don't limit the number of pages sent. The fax machine is behind the circ. desk and is operated by the staff. We just about break even with the charges to our phone bill and do not do international calls.
• Here in [city], reference staff are available to send faxes for customers. We charge $2 for the first page, and $1 for each page thereafter. Staff do the actual sending of the fax, (the fax machine is set aside in our reference office,) while the customer waits at the reference desk. We offer cover sheets to customers but don't charge for that page to be sent. We also allow customers to have faxes sent to the library on their behalf. The charge in that case is $1 per page received.
• 1 first page. 25 cents more pages. no limit on size of document faxing. patron may fax, though staff usually does it. What does staples charge? It's not like we are in competition but we should charge at least that much.
• We have a fax for patrons. Our original machine was bought with grant money just for that purpose. We had to replace that one last year. We charge 50 cents a page to send. To receive, 10 cents per page (we don't receive many.) I do charge more for very long-distance calls and often reduce the rate for multiple page faxes if they are going to a number in NH or a toll-free number.
• $1 per sheet. It is really a hassle, because our machine is so temperamental, but people do appreciate it.
• [Library] has a fax only for the use of staff.
• [Library] does offer fax services. The charge $1 a page either to send or receive. The fax machine is in the staff workroom so staff send and receive the fax.
• Yes, we fax for $1.00 per page outgoing to cover phone charges (.10 per page incoming to cover paper) We do not limit pages. Staff does the faxing as it is in our staff office. I would be wary of international faxes as those can get pricey.
• We have staff place the faxes for patrons. It is $2.00 for the first 5 pages and 1.00 for each page after that.
• [Library] has a fax service that the public may use. There is a cost of $.25 per page. If a patron is familiar with fax machines and comfortable sending faxes, they are on their own. Some patrons (actually quite a few) have no idea what to do, so we send it for them. We do not encourage patrons to have faxes sent here, for us to hold for them. I have not needed to limit pages (yet). We require patrons to send flat, neat pages without staples, folds or tears, because our fax machine jams easily, so patrons must make photocopies if the original is not acceptable ($.10 a page). So far we have not had many problems and most patrons are so grateful that they leave an extra donation. (usually less than a dollar but every little bit helps!)
• [Town] faxes for patrons. $2/page sending or receiving. Staff sends.
• [Town] offers fax services, staff sends the fax. We charge $1.00 a page for an outgoing fax with a $6.00 limit. We do not charge for an incoming fax. We also had a rather large phone bill and discovered some of the faxes were international calls. We were not aware they were international when the faxes were sent, just out of area. We now have a block on the phone that doesn't allow us to make international calls. It is a service that is well used and greatly appreciated by our patrons.
• No fax service for patrons. They are sent next door to the Mobile station.
• A couple of random thoughts on your fax dilemma--we don't get asked very often to send faxes but when we do we ask for a donation...One of us directors sends the faxes (the machine is in our office) but staff knows how to use the machine. Is there a Kinko or anyone else in town that you can compare prices with? Or at least get a general idea--no Kinko? Town office...doctor's office...It is great to offer services such as these, but you're right, you have to be able to at least cover your costs.
• We are a private library open to the public. At [library] we charge $2.00 for initial page and $1.00 each additional page for outgoing FAX. International use will include the cost of the phone call plus the above. We really discourage international calls. Incoming fees are: $.25 per page for 1st 5 pages and then $.10 each page after five. The staff does the FAX since it can be tricky with our FAX machine and we can check if it is an international call or not. Also if pages are wrinkled we have the patron make a copy so it will go through the FAX ok. Our primary use of the FAX is for library use but we do offer public use also. We don't limit pages as yet. We are going over the policies this year so anything could change.
• We charge a $1.00 going out and $.50 coming in. Staff sends the faxes.
• Here at [library], we charge $1.00 for every 5 pages & $2.00 for every 5 pages to an international number. These fees apply for sending & receiving. Staff members are responsible for the sending.
• We charge $1.50 for the first page and .50 for all others. Some 'regulars' send their own and pay at the desk. Others need assistance.
• We fax for patrons at 2.00 for the 1st page, and 1.00 for each additional page. Most faxes are either 800 numbers or in state so we have not had a problem with bills not being covered. The office machine company down the street charges the same as we do.
• We fax for patrons. Staff does it. (I really wouldn't let patrons mess with the fax machine.) We charge $1.00 per page- sending or receiving. We use 10-10-321 for out-of-state calls that are not toll-free. In fact we use 10-10-321 for all our out-of-state long distance calls. It's much cheaper than having long distance service that you have to pay for every month whether you use it or not.
• [Town] charges $2 first page, 1$ second page, max $6 outgoing and $1 incoming, max $3. Staff sends the fax.
• Yes. We charge $1 a page. The staff sends the fax. We don't limit the size.
• We charge $1 per page except we don't charge for a cover sheet.
  Staff send the fax mostly because we have a fairly old machine and it's in a work area. We don't limit the number of pages and have not found it to affect our phone bill a lot. I'd estimate we send maybe four or five a week. It saves patrons from having to leave town. I don't even know where the nearest option might be from here so they really appreciate it.
• We offer fax services. For outgoing faxes we charge $3.00 for the first page (doesn't include cover), then $1.00 for each page after. For incoming, we charge $2.00 for the first page and $1.00 for each after that. We haven't limited pages and the staff sends the fax.
• We, in [town], do the actual faxing for patrons. We charge $1.00 per page, excluding the cover sheet. We have pre-made coversheets with our Library name & address, but they can use their own cover sheet or no cover sheet. If the fax is to be sent out of the country, we charge $5.00 per page (I don't know where this amount came from). We do not limit the # of pages to be sent. I've never had anyone complain about the fee. There are a couple of companies in town that charge more than we do, so maybe our price is good. I can fax you a copy of our fax cover sheet if you are interested. Anyway, we do quite a good business with faxing!
• We charge $1 per fax. Generally, there haven't been many over 3 or 4 pages. We place the fax, rather than the patron.
• [Town] charges $1 per page to send faxes. The staff does the actual sending. We used to charge $2 for the first page and $1 for each additional page, and would not send international faxes. We changed the fee about a year ago and just sent our first international fax last week. We have not charged for incoming faxes, but have been considering doing so, as these consume paper and ink supplies.
• [Town] does offer faxing service for our patrons, we charge $2 for 1st page , and $1 each additional page to SEND, and $1 per page to RECEIVE. We do the actual faxing, as it is just easier. We don't offer International service. My phone bill is minimal, and well worth offering to your patrons, we have gotten several new members as a result of making this service available to the public.
• We automatically send folks to two local businesses that provide this service due to the trouble, time, and cost involved. Also, many times people are faxing to get business info to a place on time and never wanted to take on the responsibility for that if something went wrong. Kudos to you for providing the service...good luck finding a solution!
  For printing, I estimated the cost (cost of paper; number of copies a cartridge will print) then we tripled the cost to the public so we could pay for our copying needs and to have $$$ to replace the copier when it 'dies'. Just an idea for costing out your services.
• We charge $1.00 per page. They send it themselves.
• [Town] charges $2/ page outgoing and $1/page receiving. The fax machine is in my office so I do the faxing. When I compare the telephone charges with the receipts, it's in our favor. Faxing a long document takes some time, however I just bought a new machine that has a HUGE memory so even a refinancing contract with all the pages goes pretty fast.
• We charge $1.50 per fax. So far, we haven't had issues with large phone bills. Did your patron send multiple times, or did the connection not break after sending? Staff members send the fax here.
• We offer this service and charge $1 per page, both sending & receiving. Staff members send the fax, as the machine is in my office.
• $3 first page, $1 additional to send, 1$ a page to receive, Photocopy of non-US area codes taped to fax machine to check and charge $3 EXTRA for. Staff faxes.
• We do faxes. We charge .25 per page for local numbers and $1.00 per page for long distance numbers. We do the actual faxing part and there is no limit on the pages one can fax.
• I am attaching our Fax policy. I hope it helps. Just FYI it is behind the desk with our copier and is staff operated only!
  Appendix 6. Amendment. Fax Policy
  Fax Machine Number xxx-xxxx
  The [Library] will offer its fax machine for use by the public. The fax machine will only be available for use during the scheduled operating hours of the library.
  The rates are as follows:
  $1.00 a page instate – to send
  $ 2.00 a page out of state - to send
  $ 4.00 a page international – to send
  $ 1.00 a page to receive
  Faxes that are received at the Library are to be picked up within one week of the date it is received. If it is not picked up by that time, it will be destroyed. Patrons are responsible for making sure that their faxes are picked up in a timely manner. All patrons will pay for their faxes at the time that they are sent/received. Should the Library find that people are abusing the machine and sending so-called “trash faxes” to the Library, The Board of Trustees will review the situation and may choose to suspend the service of receiving faxes.

Library Cards for People with Disabilities

Mary at the Hall Memorial Library asked "Do any of you have a procedure in place that is legal and respectful, for giving library cards to people with disabilities such as Alzheimer's, adult autism, or others who have aides? I am also wondering about institutional cards...."

• We don't have a separate policy about people who have medical conditions, we just put a message in patron's record saying the name of the caregiver who will pick up their items.
  We have people coming from the Rockingham Home, some are in assisted living and others are in the nursing home section of the facility. At first we just had all of them lumped together with their aide responsible for all. We found that it not only did not give us a good idea of which person actually had the book, the individuals themselves wanted to be recognized and wanted their own cards. We issued them their own cards and put in a notation in our patron system reminding us that they are actually at Rockingham.
  


• We have a few special needs children here and they get a card, just like their peers, as long as their parents sign to be responsible for all materials checked out. We did have an adult with Alzheimer's who kept loosing her library card, we finally just kept her 5th or so one here for her when she came in. She never lost any books! We really don't have a policy either though. It's a good thing to do before the person in need comes in.
  


• We do not have a separate procedure here, but we do deal with this, as we have a neuro-rehabilitation facility here in town. Generally 2-6 residents at a time come in with an aide. When clients fill out the application form, the aide usually provides his or her name and phone number as a contact for follow-up. To date, this has worked well for us
  


• We don’t do anything special, except the aide can fill out the registration card if the individual is unable. We don’t require a signature, or anyone to be “held ultimately responsible”. We trust that as long as we have a current address we are ok. So far no problems. I don’t think we’ll do any different unless we see substantial losses from this segment of the population. We offer several programs that are geared to the disabled adults in our area, so we know the agency employees well, see them & their clients regularly, and they keep us current on any address changes.
  


• We have quite a few mentally challenged patrons and one man with Alzheimer’s who have cards. They follow the same rules as everyone else except the aide helps with making sure they have the address verification (which may be something from the group home or facility where they reside) and also in making sure they get the materials back when due. The man with Alzheimer’s really enjoyed westerns and action films on DVD and it gave his mother-in-law who helped with his care a break once in a while. We find that our music CDs and movies are mostly what they want and they really appreciate them.
  


• We give the card to the person and add a note that they are disabled so must depend on others to get their library materials back. We do not charge fines to these individuals. We do the same for homebound patrons. We have found that giving out institutional cards has been a disaster. The staff changes so you never have an up to date list as to who may use the card. The caretakers use the card for themselves and their family (especially if they are non-residents) Our materials then ends up missing and no one knows who is responsible for it. We have had a few cases that the caretaker has used the disabled persons card but at least in those cases we have been able to be reimbursed for our losses by the institution and they then know that they have a problem employee and can deal with it themselves.
  


• We don't have them co- sign but yes we do get all contact information as to which service the patron uses (example - Lakes Region Community Services) for day care PLUS their home care provider and/or their guardian. Hope this helps.
  


• I can't speak to the "legal" end of your query, but I can tell you how we handle this situation. In trying to give as much access as possible, when folks come in with a caregiver, as long as the person "wanting" the card fills our requirements to get a card (lives, works, goes to school or owns property in town,) we issue a card in their name, not the caregiver nor agency. Usually the same caregiver comes in repeatedly with the person who "owns" the card. We can tell (I guess we are lucky that we have the same folks staying in their jobs for the long term,) whether the materials are for the cardholder, or the caregiver. We also ask that the caregiver present the card AND have the cardholder with them. I guess in a large library setting it would be tougher to know your patrons, but we know our folks, and they often check out similar items over and over, (motorcycles, cooking books, picture books etc.) and often from the children's room. We have not done institutional cards because SOME people come and go from job to job, and might take the card, or it may be difficult to track who checked out which materials.
  

Culling of Patrons

Nancy at Madbury Library sent out a question (March 2008) about how long libraries wait before culling inactive patrons from their system. Here are the cumulated responses:

• “We cull after 3 years of inactivity. We do NOT remove a record if there are lost materials or charges for lost or damaged books on the record. I’m always surprised how frequently these folks come back thinking they are no longer in the system, only to find out that we still have their information.”
  


• “I print out a report of patrons within inactive cards (over 5 years). Staff does call to see if they still want the card and update info. Many are just disconnected numbers which we then simply delete the record. I try to do some each year.”
  


• “I started thinking of this about 6 months ago. We do not have a written policy on it. Hmmm... but maybe I should write one. Anyway, after discussing it with my trustees, in January I culled all patrons who had not checked out items in the past 2 years (we got a new automation system 2 yrs ago so this is all the back info we had). I don’t think this had ever been done before. Good-bye to about 800 patrons. Yikes! Part of my reasoning was I wanted to know who was actually using the library so we could figure out how to get everyone else to as well.”
  


• "We cull patrons every July who have been inactive for 2 years. If they have fines/fees attached to their record we leave them in however.”
  


• “We toss registration cards and delete their screens after our annual purge, which we try to do every January for cards expired 2 years previous, or if we know the person has moved or died. UNLESS they still have material out or fines. Then I guess they stay forever...”
  


• “Our cards expire every three years, or after one year of not being used. The computer takes care of renewal notification and patron purging. In both expiration situations, patron needs to show proof of residency again to renew their cards.”
  


• Another email reminded me that you have to retain patron’s application for the remainder of the year plus one year. I was not sure if that meant after culling or after the application was done. I do plan on going to the Library Trustees’ conference on May 14 as Tom Ladd is doing a session on the whys and hows of policy writing.
  


• I had one other response which I can not find. But the fun part of it was that as soon as you delete patrons’ records they walk in the door.

Policy Questions Answered

A while back a question was posted to NHAIS-L about how long libraries wait before deleting inactive patrons from their databases and then last week the library who asked to question very helpfully posted a message with the answers received. It seemed to me that having these cumulated answers as part of this blog -- so you could find them all in a single place even if you were not sure how long ago the message was on the list -- would be a good idea.

Here is what we came up with to make this happen: When a message summarizing responses to a library policy question is posted to one of the NHAIS listservs, we will add that info to the blog -- with credit given to the compiling library -- and label the post with the topic "policy questions answered." If the question is specific to another of our existing topics we will link it to that label as well. This is not an automatic process someone here in NHAIS Services will post the information. If something seems like it shouldn't be made public (a recent discussion about where petty cash is kept comes to mind, for example) we won't post that. If you post a cumulation you don't want shared beyond the listserv, please let us know and we won't include it.

If you still have such a message in your email that is recent (2008), and you thought would be useful enough that you saved it, feel free to forward it to me via email and I will add it to the online collection.