lied about a book to a kid

Is it wrong to "hide" books for your frequent patrons?  I had a child who came in everyday for 3 days looking for a particular title, when it finally came in I "hid" it under the counter.  Then a little while later another child asked for the same title.  I felt soooo guilty telling her that it was already checked out.  Do you do this? 

You need to be a member of TLNing (teacherlibrarian.org) to add comments!

Join TLNing (teacherlibrarian.org)

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • Holds are critical to providing good service! Disappointment fades fast when a student knows that their request has been acknowledged, and that they will get their turn. I find that when students trust that they will get what they want they are much more able to select an alternative that they can take with them right away.
  • Next time, tell them it is on reserve for another student and that you will be happy to add their name to the list and notify them when it is their turn to have it.
  • We call it "reserving" a title. It is legitimate to reserve a title for a patron, especially a "frequent flyer". Our circulation system allows us to create a "hold" so that when a title is returned, it alerts us that another student is waiting for it. You were not wrong, but I would place the other child on the reservation/hold list for that title for the next time it is returned. :)
  • That is censorship. Why hide it? You haven't given enough info to go on here, so again, all I can say is this is a classic case of censorship.
    • Oh yes, i can see where I think you thought I was trying censor the book. let me explain further. I meant that I was saving it for a particular patron who was begging for that title, and when another patron came in asking for that book, I fibbed and said that it was already checked out, so that I could check it out to the patron who had been requesting for 3 days.
      • Doesn't your circulation program offer the ability to put books on hold? Destiny does, and it even shows a book that is available but on hold as "unavailable" in the catalog when it is on hold. We even have a shelf visible behind the desk for those books that are on hold waiting for the person placing the hold to come and get it--we hold them for 2 days. Frequently kids will ask for the books on hold. We simply tell them it is being held for a different student, and offer to add a hold to the book for them as well if they wish.

        It seems your predicament calls for implementing a system for holds. When the book was available but you fibbed and said it wasn't, instead you could have shared that the book was on hold, and offered to place a hold for this patron so they could get it when it was returned. Some circulation programs can be set up so that patrons can set their own holds, though I don't even go that far (and I'm in a high school.) But I have placed holds in the public library's catalog.

        If nothing else, it will alleviate the guilty conscience over fibbing.
This reply was deleted.