Tuesday February 22, 2011 year: 131 No. 29 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern OSU library fines pile up; leniency given
sports
Jay CLouse Lantern reporter clouse.86@osu.edu William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library has piles of books, but when these books and other items are checked out and not returned on time, fines pile up. Larry Allen, communications coordinator for Ohio State Libraries, said 655,268 items were checked out last year. From July 2010 through December 2010, the libraries collected $82,340 in fines. However, Allen said in that same period, the libraries waived or adjusted a total of $77,219 in fines. Tony Maniaci, coordinator of circulation services,
said the library does not want to fine students. In fact, OSU libraries do not charge overdue fees on most items. “Our goal is to get the books and materials returned, not make money. We want to make the materials available to the students and then get them back,” Maniaci said. Allen said the majority of OSU items are not fined on a daily basis. But if an item is not returned or renewed and is overdue for 14 days, an overdue notice is sent. Thirty-five days later, a second notice is sent and 35 days after that, a total of 84 days overdue, the item is billed. Students may place a “hold” or reserve an item that has already been checked out. In this case, the item must be returned on time or the patron is subject to a $10-per-day fine.
Closed reserve items and OhioLINK books are the items most subject to fines. “Most closed reserve items are placed on reserve by instructors for limited use by all in a class, usually two hours per student,” Allen said. Those items are fined at $2 for the first hour overdue and $5 for each hour after the first to a maximum of $102. Mariam Hussain, a first-year in microbiology, said she was wrongly fined for a closed-reserve item. “I took out a French textbook for a class, and I returned it within the two hours,” she said. “I got an e-mail two days later that basically said I had a $200 fine that had accumulated from not returning the book on time.” Hussain then contacted the library to inquire about the erroneous charge.
8A Protesters lash out at Libyan leader
continued as Library on 3A
the tides have turned
OSU men’s basketball coach Thad Matta looks back to OSU’s 2005 win against Illinois as a turning point.
arts & life
Pat brennan Lantern reporter brennan.164@osu.edu
7A
From screen to stage
‘The West Wing’ actress Anna Deavere Smith is scheduled to perform at the Lincoln Theatre tonight.
campus
Cleveland State to host Obama Facebook
About 150 people protested the alleged state-sponsored killings in Libya
2A
Less than a month after Egyptian protesters made their voices heard at the corner of 15th Avenue and High Street in Columbus, Libyan internationals and supporters went to the highly traveled intersection on Monday night to protest recent statesponsored violence in their homeland. In Libya, protesters have taken to the streets with hopes of forcing leader Moammar Gadhafi from power. According to CNN.com, Gadhafi and his government are attempting to put down the civil unrest with actions that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton characterized as “unnecessary bloodshed.” Random shootings against protesters have been reported. In Columbus, local men, women and children of Libyan descent and supporters waved flags and chanted in protest to the alleged statesponsored killing of Libyan protestors. By 5 p.m., about 150 people had joined the protest. Homdi Soliman, a Libyan citizen, Columbus resident and organizer, spoke about the intent of the demonstration. “We are protesting the Libyan government, the (Gadhafi) regime,” Soliman said. “We are protesting the massacre that’s been going on in Libya. The Libyan regime is shooting our people with bullets.” Soliman said the recent citizen uprise in Libya could be credited to successful protests in Egypt and Tunisia. “What’s been happening in Egypt
continued as Libya on 3A
eriC beiersdorFer
/ Lantern photographer
Knedres shassan (left) and redris elkharraz (right) motion for cars to ho nk in support of their protest against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Monday at the intersection of 15th avenue and High street.
tyLer JosWiCK / Asst. photo editor
{Insert slo } e r gan he weather high 32 low 30
Cor y sHaFFer Lantern reporter shaffer.294@osu.edu
flurries
W R F SA
43/35 partly cloudy 45/37 showers 37/24 rain/snow 37/27 mostly cloudy
www.weather.com
Columbus has an image problem. Pete McGinty is president of Fahlgren Advertising, a Columbus-based advertising agency that was recently tapped to solve Columbus’ problem. “Historically, Columbus has had no image. It’s been pretty anonymous,” McGinty said. “It’s not been a bad image. I think people mostly don’t know who we are.” But this isn’t an effort by McGinty alone. Last year, a group of Columbus organizations, including the Columbus Chamber, the Columbus Foundation, Columbus 2020! and Experience Columbus, combined their efforts to build a message capturing the essence of Columbus. Paul Astleford is president and CEO of
Columbus organizations search for ‘message’ to capture the essence of the city
Experience Columbus, the sales and marketing arm of the city’s tourism bureau. He said Columbus’ image problem has put the city “behind in the 21st century.” “If you’re going to compete for new businesses or income sources like the visitor industry, you have to have an established image presentation,” Astleford said. Astleford said part of the reason Columbus has failed to garner national recognition is because past efforts were too narrow-minded and often run by a single organization. Also, Columbus was treated like a corporation rather than a community. “In a corporation, the CEO says, ‘You have to do it this way, and if you’re not on board, bye-bye.’ In a community, you can’t do that,” Astleford said. “You will never be successful at creating a successful image distinction that everyone can be proud of.” The idea of developing a brand everyone can be proud of, along with the city’s bicentennial
celebration next year, was what led the groups to collaborate, McGinty said. “You start connecting the dots and you’ve got all these organizations that have their messages out there and they start looking alike, they’re feeling alike, they’re telling the same story,” McGinty said. “That’s how we’re going to build a brand for Columbus over time.” Kenny McDonald, CEO of Columbus 2020!, said he agrees. “Instead of us all going and doing individual things, at times we need to go at it together,” McDonald said. “We have a much stronger message that way.” Columbus 2020!’s main goal is to attract and retain businesses to the central Ohio region, which includes Franklin and eight adjacent counties. “By the time this is all said and done, we want to
continued as Slogan on 3A 1A