What is the proposed product or service?

Many patrons have asked for an easy online way to pay fines & fees to libraries that are not their home institution, something like PayPal.

What does it do?

Make it easier for students to pay online, in a way that is familiar to them and convenient. It would also make payment procedures more uniform throughout the consortium. Enabling an easy way to pay might also indirectly encourage students to pay fines owed to non-home institutions, rather than ignoring them.

What problem does it solve?

Students are accustomed to paying things with credit cards, and making online payments. They frequently come to me asking how to pay fees owed to other I-Share libraries. I can look up the information they need in the I-Share Participants directory, but for some reason, they do not seem to be able to find this information on their own. Writing checks and mailing them seems "old-fashioned"--they may not even have envelopes on hand! Individual institutions seem to have their own payment procedures/policies, which may not be fully explained on their fine notices, and it is not obvious to students how to find information about to whom or where a check payment should be sent at another library. In addition to solving this problem for students, an easy online payment method could also help libraries. Many students don't take the initiative to seek out the payment information, and simply ignore non-home charges, since there is usually no aggressive follow-up on outstanding fines from other schools, and this leaves lots of unresolved "stub records" that can't be cleared even when someone graduates.

Is it the only product or service that does this?

I don't know--I'm not sure what product would work; this is just a suggestion for the consortium to consider offering a new service to enable this. PayPal is the only entity I'm familiar with.

Will this require integration with an existing CARLI product or service?

Possibly--I'm not computer savvy enough to anticipate how it would work.

What is the advantage of doing this consortially?

Students know how to pay fees at their own home libraries. It is the charges from other libraries that raise questions of procedures, and an expressed desire for an "easier" way to pay. If we all did it the same way, through a familiar mechanism, it would be easier for patrons to follow through independently. It might also indirectly encourage them to pay, instead of ignoring the charges, which they frequently do now, and reduce "stub records" left throughout the system. Providing a uniform online payment mechanism that is convenient also communicates the idea that we, as a consortium, expect patrons to pay charges no matter where they are incurred or owed.

CARLI Actions on this Product

This was referred the Resource Sharing Task Force which is working on a revision of the CARLI Resource Sharing code.

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