I have just learned via Picture This, my handy plant app, that this is called a "rose geranium." I had no idea. It's one I found discarded several years ago and brought back to life, but it looks a little stressed these days -- I think its pot is too small or maybe it needs some fresh soil.
I like the Picture This app and I recently went ahead and paid the roughly £25 annual subscription to unlock all its features, like a diagnosis tool for plant illnesses. This is pretty unheard of for me -- I have never paid subscription fees for an app -- but why not? I think I'll use it, and I suppose the app developers are entitled to some income.
So, what a week! Dear God. The end of the school year is always a busy time for us, but this year is giving me even more agita than usual. I finished the inventory and we have 28 missing books -- which is not great, even out of a total count of about 27,000 volumes. We know of about five additional missing books that were checked out to a high school department, for use by students with research projects. Hopefully some of them will come back before the end of the year when people are cleaning out classrooms, lockers and offices.
I am still having a terrible time getting overdue books back from students. I write them e-mails, I talk to them personally, I e-mail their parents and school advisers, and still nothing happens. No one can seem to resolve the situation. It's not as if the kids don't have the money to pay for the book. They just can't follow through, for whatever reason. We've long blamed pandemic-related developmental delays in executive functioning for problems like this, and maybe that still is partly the problem. I'm trying to take it lightly -- I can't be ultimately responsible for what other people do or don't do.
I suppose I've been complaining about this for ten years. But the lassitude really does seem worse this year.
This weekend should be pretty chill. I'm going to a play this afternoon because a friend offered me a spare ticket -- "The Brightening Air" at the Old Vic, about an Irish family in the 1980s -- so that will be the big excitement for the day.
I love that app too. Considering what libraries do for society, shouldn't government have political will to have postal services return books for free? If every book has a sticker with its "home" library address could it work? Maybe snail mail is also too much for distracted patrons to access if they can't physically get to the library? I wish I knew the solution.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a great solution! I have mailed books back to libraries when they've been returned to ours by mistake, but it costs money.
DeleteDon't you fine them for overdue books? Add it to their school fees bill perhaps?
ReplyDeleteOur finance department doesn't like to bill directly because the bookkeeping is a headache for them. Plus it's seen as nickel-and-diming the parents.
DeleteIf you will use an app regularly and it gives accurate information...it should be worth paying for the work to keep it up to date and running.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is the attitude sadly of "its only a book" ...?
That is definitely the attitude. My argument is, it's NOT only a book. It's about teaching responsibility and integrity.
DeleteYou could try cancelling ALL book checkouts until ALL books are returned or paid for. It's drastic and won't be welcomed (or not allowed) but maybe even threatening it will have results.
ReplyDeleteYes, we do that already. When your book is more than four weeks overdue you're not permitted to check out anything else. (With some leeway for essential classwork.)
DeleteSounds like a busy week, but it’s great you invested in the app, and I hope the missing books turn up soon — enjoy the play and a well-deserved break!
ReplyDeleteSome of them will undoubtedly surface, perhaps having been taken from the library by mistake without checking them out.
DeleteOoh, live theater (or should I write theatre). How wonderful. Your photo is yet another beauty. I can’t believe I’m too cheap to pay for the Picture This app. You wouldn’t believe the apps we pay for every year (or maybe you would). I came across another bunch of trees yesterday I was curious about. The overdue books would aggravate me, too, and more so after 10 years of dealing with the problem.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the only app I pay a subscription fee for. Everything else I use on the cheap! (Maybe I pay for my bird app too?)
DeleteDo the children get a report card or end of year assessment? This could be held back until all overdue books are returned,
ReplyDeleteYes, but I have a feeling the school would be reluctant to withhold grades. We do withhold yearbooks, though, at least in theory.
DeleteI'd be annoyed at the helplessness of getting books back. I'd be tempted to threaten personal visits!
ReplyDeleteHa! I've thought about it but that's definitely a step too far. LOL
DeleteI find with some people, the only way to get their attention is to "get their attention". In other words, levee a big fine and withhold their transcript until it gets paid. I'm sure that is all taboo in this modern world, but that is how I learned to be responsible and I think it worked quite well.
ReplyDeleteWe do charge them if the book is lost, but it's incumbent on them to both tell us that and to pay.
DeleteIt's rude to not return the books; perhaps the school could withhold grades and such until books are returned.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we withhold yearbooks, at least in theory.
DeleteNaughty children, not returning books. They remain known as children until they prove they are mature enough to abide by the rules and be acknowledged as adults.
ReplyDeleteI love perennial geraniums - so reliable and pretty.
It's so frustrating for me partly because I just DO NOT understand it. How hard is it to return a library book?
DeleteIt could be 'out of sight out of mind' about the books. Having the school withholding the grades seems like it might produce some results. Love the rose gernium. How do photographers get that black background?
ReplyDeleteIf you focus on the flower and set the light for that, any shadowy background will appear dark and often mostly featureless.
DeleteThe Picture This app is worth the price in my opinion. I use it all the time and it seems to be very accurate.
ReplyDeleteDon't know what to say about the missing library books. It's an interesting concept to think about- the reason someone would not return their books. Probably many reasons ranging from laziness to shame.
The few times I've used it so far, it seems very accurate! I don't get the book return thing at all. I feel like it is such a simple request and yet month after month so many kids just cannot manage it. I even had one girl ask me to stop sending her overdue notices. I said, "When you return your books, the notices will stop!"
DeleteI wonder if your school has the parents' credit card info on file for school fees. You could send the notice that overdue book costs will be charged automatically to those accounts if books aren't returned. That way you don't have to chase after them.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy the theater!
I'm not sure how school fees are paid. We've talked to the finance department before about billing for lost books, but apparently they feel it's more of a headache than it would be worth.
DeleteI think you may be right about the Covid thing. I know other educational places have seen a big difference in students who were younger then, now at ages where they should be more responsible -- and aren't. I'm interested in Ellen's idea. That might be a good thing to propose if you don't have it.
ReplyDeleteCovid really was a huge sociological experiment, wasn't it? It had all these lingering aftereffects that I don't think anyone foresaw.
DeleteI'm pretty sure my college had a thing where you had to take care of any library fines or lost books before you could get your grades. But in today's climate I guess that's not a thing anymore. I would be annoyed too!
ReplyDeleteWe have a similar policy that requires them to do that before getting yearbooks. I just hate to have to wait until the end of the year, when no one else can use the books. Plus the longer a kid has a book, the more likely it is to get permanently misplaced.
DeleteYour rose Geranium is a great plant with lovely flowers. I find It spreads nicely when planted in the ground. My single plant now looks like a groundcover.
ReplyDeleteYour library might need to establish a policy for unreturned books. I like: three notices and requests for book return, then you are billed for the cost of a replacement book.
We do have policies, but billing for books can be tricky as I mentioned above. We prohibit further checkouts when books are extremely overdue, but some kids don't care about that!
DeleteI love the blooms. They look delicate. Enjoy the play.
ReplyDeleteI can't help think about those kids who don't bring back their books. It sounds like they aren't being raised to take responsibility in following rules. I'm pretty sure it's the same over here.
Whenever a teacher or adviser says to me, "Well, it's just a book," that's my response. It's NOT just a book. It's a lesson in responsibility and integrity.
DeleteWe used to grow Rose Geraniums up north. There is a wildflower garden at Cornell University that has so many, plus trillium, virginia bluebells, and other spring flowers a this time of the year. I really miss those flowers.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they would bake in Florida! Maybe they'd be OK on a shady patio or lanai?
DeleteThere have to be ways to get those books back (or at least paid for)! I like several of the ideas your commenters have proposed, but i guess you really don't have any say so.
ReplyDeleteIs your ID app global or just for your area? I might have to send you a photo for identification!
In the end, probably most of the overdues will be resolved one way or another. I just hate the interim, when I keep sounding the alarm and nothing happens. It's one of the most frustrating aspects of my job!
DeleteTo me it sounds like there is no will on the part of students, parents, advisors, or even the school administration to solve the missing books issue. It would be easy to institute a policy like Susan outlined (except I'd probably make it two - not three - notices/requests, then billing the cost of the book plus a fee for the work involved in replacing it). If you're not being supported in this by anyone else, it's not in your power to change and shouldn't be on your shoulders at this point. I know, that's easier said than done for anyone of conscience :)
ReplyDeleteWe had rose geraniums for years but they are slowly dying because the soil needs replaced - we dump snow from the walkway on that garden because there's nowhere else to put it - and it often contains ice melt or salt. This year I really have to replace the soil or the plants are going to die out altogether.
Well, there are issues of support, that's true. I think I care much more about overdue materials than anyone else in the library or school! But you're right -- at some point I have to let go and say, "This is a policy question that is beyong my pay grade."
DeleteThey more akin to the wild uk plant
ReplyDeleteThey do look a lot like wild geraniums, except the stems are woody. They're more shrubby than the wild kind.
DeleteAbout an Irish family set in the 80s....that sounds rather promising to me.
ReplyDeleteIt was good -- darkly humorous, as one might expect in a play about Ireland.
DeleteI love geraniums and grow them every year. I've never seen these; I generally get the zonal and Martha Washington varieties.
ReplyDeleteWe've got those too!
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