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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1974)
Library fines picking college students' pockets By Nancy Stohs Library fines. At UNL, they can keep you from re-enrolling, hold your grade transcripts if you're graduating or take sizeable chunks from your spending money. But UNL students alone don't feel this pinch. According to librarians at other Big 8 schools and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), all have some penalty for losing, or returning books late. Some fines are steeper, some set a maximum fine, some allow extra free days, and one Colorado University-charges no fines for overdue books. For regular two-week book loans, UNL's daily overdue charge is somewhere in the middle. UNL libraries charge $1 the first day and 10 cents for each additional day, with one day of grace allowed. This applies to Love, Undergraduate and C.Y. Thompson libraries, and to all students. Similar fines at other schools are either 5, 10 or 25 cents daily. However, many schools have maximum fines of $5, $10 or two-thirds of the book's cost. UNL has no such maximum. Beside this, six out of eight schools have longer grace periods, such as five days at Oklahoma University and UNO, one week at Iowa State University and two weeks at Colorado. This, in effect, extends the maximum check-out period. Kansas University and UNO, however, collect back charoes for books returned after this period. Colorado abolished its library fine system three years ago. After two weeks' grace period, unreturned books are considered lost and a ' f $15 charged. If the book is returneu, $3 is charged. The University of Kansas' policy is similar. A book is considered lost after a month, and the bill for the book also is the first notice sent the student. The charge for actual lost books varies greatly from school to school. Books fewer than 5-year so Id and still in print cost a minimum of $15 at UNL. Students may opt to pay the replacement cost of a book plus a $5 processing fee. Books returned at UNL before payment for the book are charged the overdue charge only. Students returning payed-for books within a year receive a 50 per cent refund. After a year no refund is made. Oklahoma University has the same second option, but tacks a $10 replacement and $5 processing charge onto the initial $15. Four schools refund the total charge for lost books that are returned later, but the others refund only the processing or replacement fee. At Oklahoma State University, the total charge is refunded only if a new book hasn't already been ordered. By comparison, UNL's fine schedule for reserve books is mild. For overnight and two-hour loans, UNL libraries charge 50 cents the first hour overdue and 10 cents each hour thereafter during which the library is open. UNO has the same policy. Continued on Page 8. daiu thursday, january 24, 1974 lincoln, nebraska vol. 98, no. 6 , .1, CSL panel recommendations tackle UNL parking problems 3 GLTimUS.FR05TUS 9 m " 1 E. PLURIVJ5 Carpool organizers to use computer By Mark Hoffman "Autumn days, blinding dust clouds blowing; Winter comes and, damn, it's snowing. Snow-burried autosno student's delight. And spring only brings autos sunk out of sight." So goes this student lament to a UNL parking lot, but students might be singing a different tune if UNL officials adopt recommendations from the Counci on Student Life (CSL) Ad Hoc Parking Committee report. Those recommendations include: -paving parking lots and possibly building a high-rise parking garaqe to replace current lots, many of which are unpaved. closing streets to cars and parking only on the edge of the campus; buses would then shuttle students to campus. -creating a position of UNL parking administrator and a Parking Advisory Board. The ad hoc committee was formed last year to recommend a solution to UNL's parking problems, according to Chairman John Goebel. Goebel is a CSL member and an assistant professor of business law. UNL does not have a specific parking problem, but a situation that could be improved, Goebel said. Unpaved lots have led to complaints of blowing dust and problems with snow and mud, he said. "If they (students, faculty and staff) get the parking they want.. .students are going to have to pay," Goebel said. He said a survey of Big 8 and Big 10 schools showed UNL's parking permit cost was one of the lowest. Other schools' rates ranged from $5 to $125 a year. UNL parking permits cost students $15 a year. In talking with students, faculty and staff about UNL parkinq problems, the committee heard several other complaints, he said. Students said thev could not park where or when they wanted. The equality of treatment given to faculty and student parking appeals boards also was questioned, Goebel said. Students also complained that professors weren't puniihed for not paying parking tickets, Goebel said. According to Goebel, students said if they refused to pay for tickets their cars would be towed away. Goebel said a professor is not exempted from paying parking fines. He said, though, that UNL needs a uniform parking appeals route. The committee's recommendation of a parking administrator is a step toward centralizing UNL's parking procedures, according to Goebel. Currently two appeals routes exist-one for students and one for faculty. Responsibility for parking administration and coordination is divided among three UNL officials, he noted. They are Miles Tommeraasen, director of business and finance; Gail Gade, chief of campus security and traffic; and Ron Wright, assistant director of business and finance. "I think these people are doing a fine job of handling what is a very perplexing job on this campus," Goebel sai, "but it might be accomplished better through one oerson." Part of that job is fitting 10,850 cars into 8,300 spaces. Goebel said this meant issuing more permits for a particular parking lot than spaces available. UNL officials have been able to do this without creating major problems, he said. Althouah the lot west of Harper-Schramm-Smith dormitories has more than 500 soaces, more than 900 permits were sold for that lot, according to Gade. This did not create many problems finding spaces, because students constantly are coming and going, Gade said. He added that Campus Security observes lots and then decides which can be oversold and by how much. Computer selection should make organizing carpools at UNL easier, according to Campus Security Chief Gail Gade. Working with Gade to prepare carpool registration is Ray Coffey, assistant manager for business and finance, who is preparing a questionnaire that will be available on campus this week. On the questionnaires, persons should specify the times that they leave for and depart from campus, and also put their addresses on an enclosed gridded map of Lincoln. The state's computer will divide carpool applicant into small groups, according to home addresses and departure times, Coffey said. The lists will be mailed to each applicant. Persons then should call the others in their area to arrange a carpool. Coffey said the idea originated with the Omaha Jaycees, whose Energy Conservation Carpool Operation (ECCO) also uses computer matching. Gade added that besides conserving gas, UNL students forming carpools can divide the $15 campus parking permit fee among the riders. Because fewer cars would be filling the UNL parking lots, campus traffic should move more smoothly, he said. The Daily Nebraskan also is helping with efforts to form carpools. For tho next month, it will charge only 5 cent a word, with no minimum word limit, on all want ads placed by persons wanting riders or rides.