Library problem.

I had this problem with books getting recalled when I was away on Christmas break last year, so I complained to the student liaison for my division, and recently she got back in an e-mail to me and other students who had given her feedback with answers from on high:

Fine structure:

1) Quoting in full from a student email: “I've had a problem this year with the fine structure around recalls, since it's not appropriate for Christmas break. I left the week of Christmas for a 12-day break, and on Dec. 23rd (!!!) someone recalled 3 books from me - and I had a $30 fine when I got back! The same thing wouldn't have happened if they had recalled them in the week after Christmas, since I would have returned within the 7-day grace period. It's unrealistic for people to return all their 60+ books at home over christmas break (the response of the circ desk to me), as it is if someone is gone for the entire summer. Because spring break is only a week, the same dynamic doesn't come into play then. Could the fine structure be reduced, or the grace period extended for the time between fall and winter quarters? I never recall books from people at the beginning of Christmas break since I don't want to stick someone with fines, but it seems some library patrons don't have that same common-sense courtesy.”

While we understand that receiving a recall over winter break is inconvenient, the Library is used quite heavily during this time by faculty and students who choose to remain on campus. For many patrons, this interim is the best (perhaps only) time to do research between September and March, and it’s equally inconvenient to them to not have the books they need.

This answer kind of annoys me. While everyone has the right to recall during this period, it's probably not the best thing to do, at least between Christmas and New Year's. Campus is a ghosttown - don't people realize that? Sometimes I see these old professors roaming the streets, or in the library at 10pm at night, and you realize how socially maladjusted they are...

Like a friend said to me once, if you can smalltalk in academia, you're a rockstar, the standards are so low. And that's not even if you know how to work a room at a reception, she clarified, too.

Anyhow, I imagine one of these lonely people sitting in front of a computer just recalling books the day before Christmas Eve. Some people just have sense at all.