Pardon Me!
Amnesty Can Bring Back Missing Materials
In spring the flowers bloom, the bears emerge from hibernation, the swallows return to Capistrano and your missing books fly back onto your shelves. At least that's what could happen if you choose to carry out your own "Share The Thrill! Return The Books! Overdue Books Amnesty" campaign.
If you are missing materials and you just can't "bear" to lose them forever, let the friendly bears, Alphonse and Hilda, help in using this proven program to bring those books home. While some materials are simply lost, a great many are still in the hands of the patrons who checked them out. With a "no questions asked" amnesty period you remove the embarrassment and fear of paying large fines as obstacles to the return of long-overdue materials.
Pick a one- or two-week period for your amnesty program, solicit approvals from your board or commission if necessary, and tell your patron community about the program. That's all it takes. You will be amazed at the materials that appear. In the 1998 amnesty program at San Francisco Public Library some periodicals were returned that were dated in the 1850s and were checked out just three days before the great earthquake in 1906.
The campaign materials that we present here for your use were developed by the San Francisco Public Library for its 2001 amnesty campaign and are used with the permission of Marcia Schneider, Public Affairs Director, SFPL and illustrator/cartoonist Phil Frank. LM&PR owes a huge "thank you" to both. The bears, Alphonse and Hilda, are characters that appear regularly in Phil Frank's cartoon series Farley (San Francisco Chronicle), previously in Mr. Frank's syndicated cartoon series Travels With Farley and in several of Mr. Frank's books. The artwork other than the bear cartoon was prepared by us specifically for this article and may be used, with the permission of Library Media & PR, by any library wishing to conduct an amnesty campaign. The bear cartoon was drawn by Phil Frank and is copyrighted. That cartoon image may be used in materials promoting your library amnesty campaign and may not be used for any other purpose nor may it be used on material offered for sale.
In creating your own campaign you are free to use any or all of the materials presented here or create your own campaign from scratch.
Resources:
Share your experiences, ask questions or give advice to others about the campaign.
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