One of the presentations shared during the 2010 ALA Annual meeting. The program hosted by LLAMA - MAES was called " Myth Busting: Using Data to Challenge Assumptions". Speaker: Jan Sung, University of Hawaii at Mano Presentation: Do overdue fines and grace periods affect patrons book return behavior? Program abstract: What services are actually valued by your users? Which online resources are good investments? Is texting the best way to reach your young adults? Libraries often hold false assumptions or beliefs which have not been challenged with actual data. Find out how different libraries have used data to challenge their assumptions and long-held beliefs.

1. June 27, 2008 Jan Sung University of Hawaii at Manoa Myth Busting: Using Data to Challenge Assumptions ALA Conference 2010, Washington DC LLAMA / MAES Do overdue fines and grace periods affect patrons book return behavior?

2. “ What will you do, if you were asked to call all patrons with overdue books?” Well, if there were too many, I don’t think we can . . . Or if there were too few, why do we need to . . .

3. Let me see what I can do . . .

4. Eastern Illinois Univ. Charleston Chicago Univ. of Hawaii

5. International 1% EIU Pacific Islander 12% Asian 47% White 27% UH African American 10% White 79% Hispanic 3% Asian / Pacific Islander 1% Unknown 6% African America 1%

6. EIU Loan Periods -- Faculty Grad Under UH EIU 4 M / 10 R 4 M / 10 R 1 M (Fall 06) 2 M (Fall 07) 1 M / 10 R

7. Fines & Fees -- EIU X X Faculty Grad Under UH EIU Since Fall 06 Same as Under .25 / day 10 day grace p.

8. Books returned before due at EIU e-Courtesy e-Overdue Loan period changed Fines imposed Loan period revised Fines remained Undergrad Faculty Graduate

9. UH vs EIU Loan Periods & Fines and Fees $.25 / Day with 10 day grace p. $.25 / Day with no grace period X Faculty Grad Under UH 6 M / 99 R 3 M / 5 R 1 M / 5 R EIU 4 M / 10 R 2 M / 10 R 1 M / 10 R

10. Books returned before due - - Graduates EIU – Graduate (No Fines earlier) UH -- Graduate (Fines with no grace period) Loan period changed Fines imposed Loan period revised Fines remained

11. EIU – Under (Fines with 10 Day Grace Period) UH – Under (Fines with No Grace Period) Books returned before due - - Undergraduates

12. Books returned before due - - Faculty UH– Faculty (Fines without grace period) EIU – Faculty (No Fines)

13. Mahalo [email_address] 04ww778