The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 19, 1992- Page
Late library books cost
.U-M students big bucks
Randomly assigned
class numbers puzzle
students, professors
by Kelly Bates
Those overdue library books pil-
ing up in the bottom of your desk
drawer are costing you big bucks -
probably more than you think.
University library late fines vary
depending on where the book is
checked out and how much in de-
mand it is, said Sue Wooding, head
oI circulation services at the Gradu-
ate Library.
There is a 25 cents per day
charge for a typical book from any
university library. The university of-
fers a three-day grace period to stu-
dents, and then charges them for the
full amount on the fourth day.
But if another student recalls the
book while it is overdue, the charge
jumps to $2 per day.
, While some may complain that
the fines are too stiff, LSA junior
Brett Logue said the penalties are a
good idea.
y "It will encourage people to bring
the book back on time, so that if
someone needs a book for a paper
there's more of a chance it'll be
back," Logue said.
Overdue materials in the Under-
graduate Library Reserve room incur
the steepest penalty -$1 per hour.
"A lot of times the time period in
which the students are required to
use the material is very short, so (the
fines) ensure that a large number of
people could see something," said
Ann Sprunger, U-M Libraries' coor-
diator for university reserves.
U-M instructors reserve journal
atticles, textbooks and regular books
for their classes so students will not
have to buy expensive books or
magazines just for one article or
chapter, she explained.
,Like many students, LSA senior
Mary Mullally was outraged at first
by the amount charged, but after
some thought she said she realized
its benefit.
"If I was waiting for something
on reserve and a student turned it in
late, it's nice to know I have a matter
of recourse," Mullally said.
Students can check out reserved
journal articles for two hours and
everything else for four hours,
Sprunger explained. Occasionally,
an instructor will request that the
material be loaned out for one or
two days, in which case it is due
back exactly 24 or 72 hours after
check-out.
"When we check it out we give
you special slips that tell you explic-
itly when it's due back," Sprunger
said.
Lost or severely damaged books
ring up the highest fines by far. The
U-M libraries charge students a pro-
cessing fee of $30 per item to be re-
placed. A $35 or $65 default fee is
then added on for the book, depend-
ing on the estimated price of the
text.
"That's a bargain because it
doesn't include (other) costs to
making the book available to a li-
brary this size," Wooding said.
Sprunger agreed.
"$50 to $75 is not out of the
question," she said.-
. Sometimes, students can get
stuck paying for damages they did
not cause.
Three books checked out by LSA
junior Deborah Schultz were taken,
and although two were returned,
Schultz still had to pay $65 to re-
place the third book.
While Schultz said she did not
think the price of library fines is too
high, she said people should not
have to pay fines for books stolen
while taken out on their card.
"There must be something that
could be done so people who have
books stolen don't have to pay the
heavy fines," Schultz said.
by Jen DiMascio
Daily Staff Reporter
Intro to Psychopathology minus
Labs in Biopsychology equals 39.
Continents Adrift plus Contempo-
rary Dinosaurs equals 378.
Students may find themselves
adrift in a sea of numbers when they
peruse the LSA course guide while
planning their schedules. And while
one might think that someone,
somewhere knows what all the
numbers mean, in actuality they are
completely random.
The first digit in a course number
designates the level of the class,
with 100- and 200- level courses in-
tended for first-year students and
sophomores. Courses numbered 300
and above are reserved for upper-
class students.
However, U-M departments may
use their own discretion in deciding
the last two digits of a course
number.
"To rationalize all course num-
bers in college would take an awful
lot of time and work that we would
rather spend in ways that would ad-
dress real student needs," said Ruth
Scodel, a member of the U-M cur-
riculum committee.
While making the system logical
would be ideal, a discrepancy in
numbering would soon arise, Scodel
added.
Classes are given numbers as
they are proposed. When a new
class is added to the curriculum, it is
given an unused number. If the
course is in a sequence, and the
number in that sequence is already
taken, the class is assigned a random
number.
'To rationalize all
course numbers in
college would take an
awful lot of time.
- Ruth Scdel
U-M curriculum
committee member
Last year, the Psychology De-
partment renumbered its courses in
response to student complaints to
form a logical system, said Psychol-
ogy Prof. James Hilton.
The department reorganized to
permit concentrators to take classes
at their own pace.
The new Psychology numbering
system is specifically organized at
the 300 level. Round numbers repre-
sent lecture sections, while the suc?
ceeding number denotes the lab. For
example, Psychology 350 - Intro to
Developmental Psychology - cor-
responds with Psychology 351, De-
velopmental Lab.
Hilton said he hopes students will
adjust to the new system with little
confusion.
He added that he hopes other de-;
partments will reorganize their_
course numbering systems.
Clinton hopefuls
A group of Somali refugees onboard the freighter Samaa-1 display a
banner yesterday after docking in the Yemeni port of Aden. The sagging
freighter, packed with desperate Somali refugees, staggered into Aden
harbor after two harrowing weeks at sea.
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