Library Fines

Wiredcharlie

In view of the fuss over bank charges, are library fines on overdue books fair and proportionate?

(15p per book per day)

Tony

Tozer

Yes. Next...?

Halloway

As the internet has become more pervasive and accessible, do you think that more people seem to be asking dafter and more irrelevant questions?

System

I think they get capped at a certain amount (about a fiver?). You get the books for 3 weeks plus can renew them twice (either online, over the phone or in the library) so i think 15p a day is perfectly reasonable. If anything it should be more. If you are a day late at blockbusters its about £3 i think?

stationaryace

at university our fines were £1 per day for late 'standard loan' books and 50p an hour for 'Heavy Demand' (max 24hr loan) books. 15p a day is nothing.

willo65

goater78 wrote: »

I think they get capped at a certain amount (about a fiver?). You get the books for 3 weeks plus can renew them twice (either online, over the phone or in the library) so i think 15p a day is perfectly reasonable. If anything it should be more. If you are a day late at blockbusters its about £3 i think?

Was £2 per day for new releases and as it's £3.95 for 1 film for one or two nights depending on store then it is in proportion to the rental fees but they have just reduced the fee's to £1.25 per day for new releases.

Claire_Bear

stationaryace wrote: »

at university our fines were £1 per day for late 'standard loan' books and 50p an hour for 'Heavy Demand' (max 24hr loan) books. 15p a day is nothing.

Which uni was that? Mine was something along the lines of 15-30p per day as well (Northumbria) unless it was a 7-day book, in which case it went up a bit.

15p a day for public library books is nothing, there's no excuse for not taking them back anyway so no-one should ever get charged.

lynzpower

There is nio upper limit.

I forgot to take a book back when I was really busy. They charged me£9 in late fees ( about 3 months) the book was only worth 7.99 new. I paid the fine and kept the book

rev_henry

Erm, library fines vary depending on the policy of the particular county. I'm a member of both Cumbria and Lancs libraries and they charge differently.

Poppy9

Only adults get fined so if you borrow a book or DVD on a child's card then you don't incur a fine if you are late.

Personally I think there should be a joining fee/deposit to cover the cost of books not returned. Most regular customers will eventually return a loan but there is a problem with new members who borrow once, never to be seen again.

Takoda

My best ever library fine was in the early 70s. It was something like £1.50 which was a lot of money then especially to a kid!

I manged to avoid paying it until the early 90s when inflation had kicked in and £1.50 was worth considerably less! Result!