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. C.i ,4R p s &., 'p. TIP OFF '92 THE FAB FIVE ARE BACK! 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