Re: Need advice - damaged magazines Jewel Rucker 23 Jan 2004 20:29 UTC
We had a problem with the Jet magazine one time last year. A student wanted some articles out of it and after finding the tattle tape tore all the pages before and after the page with the strip on it. Well, I instructed my assistants to put two tattle tape strips in the magazine, one towards the front and one towards the back. When I place the strips inside the magazines I place them as close as I can to the center (inside spine), close the magazine and rub my fingers down the length to make sure the pages stick real good so that when it is opened again no one can tell that there is something there. I think the student who tore the Jet magazine up was lucky in seeing where the strip had been placed. Try placing two tattle tape strips in the magazine and see if it helps. Also, one thing we did when Princess Diana died and she was on all covers of newspapers and magazines we kept them in the office until things/emotions faded away and then they were put back on the shelf. Hope this helps, Jewel Ms. A. Jewel Rucker Library Associate /Periodicals Dept. Chair, WVUIT Staff Council Vining Library WVU Institute of Technology 405 Fayette Pike Montgomery WV 25136 304-442-3816 >>> Reference Desk <refdesk@LEBANONCOUNTYLIBRARIES.ORG> 01/23/04 11:04AM >>> Hello, I'm hoping someone can offer some advice on the issue of patrons damaging library magazines. Our library subscribes mostly to popular magazines, such as Newsweek, Time, People, etc., magazines that have pictures that apparently are very tempting to tear or cut out. I've dealt with minor cutting in magazines for a while, and either talk to the patron, when possible, or simply charge them for the replacement of the magazine. Today, however, I've just about reached the end of my rope. I had an issue of People magazine returned with 5 or 6 pages torn, and over 100 pages missing - the worst I've ever seen. (The worst part is that I suspect it was done in the library, since it was returned and brought to my attention by one of our best volunteers.) I'm hoping anyone who's dealt with this can offer advice on how they've handled this, what's worked, and what hasn't worked. Here's what I've done so far: spoken with the patron personally and told them that this is NOT ok, charged their accounts when I can't get ahold of them (then dealt with them yelling at me in the middle of the library when they find out), begun checking every magazine individually when they come back in (and checking high risk ones like People page by page) - which takes up a lot of time, placed labels on high risk magazines telling patrons that they will be charged if pages are torn out when they return them, and hung signs in the magazine area stating the law about damaging library property. Any other ideas? TIA for any advice! ~Michelle Michelle A. Hawk Head of Reference Lebanon Community Library 125 North 7th Street Lebanon, PA 17046 (717) 273-7624 Fax: (717) 273-2719