Schizophrenia Support - ADV-NEWS, Lost library card brings borrowed trouble.

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ADV-NEWS, Lost library card brings borrowed trouble.

Cymbal Man Freq.

2004-11-18, 11:06 am

Lost library card brings borrowed trouble
Bill Mcauliffe, Star Tribune
November 18, 2004

Most parents wouldn't worry much if notified that one of their children borrowed
a load of books and CDs from the library.

But when Michelle Nash, of Blaine, got a bill for more than $350 in overdue
fines and replacement costs from the Anoka County Library, she knew something
unwholesome was afoot. It seems there had been promiscuous borrowing on the
library card that her 10-year-old son, Garrett, lost last summer.

"Who thinks your library card has to be treated like a credit card? But it
does," Michelle Nash said.

She added: "And if I refuse to pay, the taxpayer gets stuck. Everybody suffers."

The saga apparently goes back to the day when Garrett fell off his bike a block
from home. It was the last time he remembers having the card because it was in
his wallet, which he lost in the crash.

"Losing the wallet hurt just as bad, because I got it for my 10th birthday,"
Garrett said.

Several weeks ago, the Nashes started getting recorded messages from the library
saying they were holding overdue materials. The fines were already at $50.
Michelle Nash had the library put a stop on any use of Garrett's card, but then
the bill for replacement costs came. The items were mostly Christian music
compilations, along with a Louis Armstrong collection, a copy of Motor Trend
magazine, and a few other items. His mother said it was unlikely such materials
would have appealed to Garrett, a home-schooled regular library user who has
been through Harry Potter and moved on to historical biographies and mysteries.

Why borrow items on a found library card belonging to a 10-year-old and not
return them?

Mary Caven, assistant director of the Anoka County Library, said that in another
Minnesota system where she once worked, a staffer once spotted library items for
sale in a pawn shop, and bought them back. But unauthorized use of library cards
is rare, she said.

Library cards also may not be the most valuable tool in the widespread dynamic
of identity theft. Most carry the user's name and signature (and a warning to
report loss or theft immediately) but not much other personal information.

Chris Abbas, a Minneapolis police sergeant who is also commander of the
Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force, said he had never heard of anyone facing
financial loss from a lost library card. Until Wednesday.

"I think anything that has anyone's name on it, that can get them any type of
privilege or any type of services needs to be guarded in this day and age,"
Abbas said. "Here's someone who accumulated debt that's now being charged to
that mother."

Caven added that it's the library system's job to "guard the public's
investment" by encouraging returns or replacements. But the collection action
against the Nashes will stop, now that Blaine police are looking into the
occurrence as a theft.

In any case, Michelle Nash has developed material she thinks could be an ad for
the value of library cards.

"Now the joke with my friends is, 'Where's your library card?' " she said.

wiggly lumber

2004-11-20, 11:06 am

I like the fact that the library card thief stole "Christian material."
Unless he did so in order to take the material out of circulation, he
must call himself a Christian. Happy sojourn in hell, bozo.

-wl

Cymbal Man Freq. wrote:

> Lost library card brings borrowed trouble
> Bill Mcauliffe, Star Tribune
> November 18, 2004
>
> Most parents wouldn't worry much if notified that one of their children borrowed
> a load of books and CDs from the library.
>
> But when Michelle Nash, of Blaine, got a bill for more than $350 in overdue
> fines and replacement costs from the Anoka County Library, she knew something
> unwholesome was afoot. It seems there had been promiscuous borrowing on the
> library card that her 10-year-old son, Garrett, lost last summer.
>
> "Who thinks your library card has to be treated like a credit card? But it
> does," Michelle Nash said.
>
> She added: "And if I refuse to pay, the taxpayer gets stuck. Everybody suffers."
>
> The saga apparently goes back to the day when Garrett fell off his bike a block
> from home. It was the last time he remembers having the card because it was in
> his wallet, which he lost in the crash.
>
> "Losing the wallet hurt just as bad, because I got it for my 10th birthday,"
> Garrett said.
>
> Several weeks ago, the Nashes started getting recorded messages from the library
> saying they were holding overdue materials. The fines were already at $50.
> Michelle Nash had the library put a stop on any use of Garrett's card, but then
> the bill for replacement costs came. The items were mostly Christian music
> compilations, along with a Louis Armstrong collection, a copy of Motor Trend
> magazine, and a few other items. His mother said it was unlikely such materials
> would have appealed to Garrett, a home-schooled regular library user who has
> been through Harry Potter and moved on to historical biographies and mysteries.
>
> Why borrow items on a found library card belonging to a 10-year-old and not
> return them?
>
> Mary Caven, assistant director of the Anoka County Library, said that in another
> Minnesota system where she once worked, a staffer once spotted library items for
> sale in a pawn shop, and bought them back. But unauthorized use of library cards
> is rare, she said.
>
> Library cards also may not be the most valuable tool in the widespread dynamic
> of identity theft. Most carry the user's name and signature (and a warning to
> report loss or theft immediately) but not much other personal information.
>
> Chris Abbas, a Minneapolis police sergeant who is also commander of the
> Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force, said he had never heard of anyone facing
> financial loss from a lost library card. Until Wednesday.
>
> "I think anything that has anyone's name on it, that can get them any type of
> privilege or any type of services needs to be guarded in this day and age,"
> Abbas said. "Here's someone who accumulated debt that's now being charged to
> that mother."
>
> Caven added that it's the library system's job to "guard the public's
> investment" by encouraging returns or replacements. But the collection action
> against the Nashes will stop, now that Blaine police are looking into the
> occurrence as a theft.
>
> In any case, Michelle Nash has developed material she thinks could be an ad for
> the value of library cards.
>
> "Now the joke with my friends is, 'Where's your library card?' " she said.
>
>
>
>
>