The Good Library Blog

I used to share a house with a librarian. She reliably informed me that the 'fines' box was used as the donut fund for staff. I doubt much has changed....

People bring fines entirely upon themselves. You're given 3-4 weeks to return books to your library - can anyone seriously tell me that they have no time at all to return items in a period that long - or that they couldn't reach for the telephone or computer to renew them? Fines are an effective way of protecting public property, books that are in collective ownership. Others could be waiting for those items and people know full well what the deal is when they take them out. I'll admit, I've paid plenty of fines in my time, but it's a fair cop.

First up, I'll put my hands up to working in a library. Secondly, I agree with a lot of what Perkins says about the endless twittering. The problem is that no-one is in charge of libraries nationally, in any real sense. They're all run by local authorities, who have their own agendas and priorities. In the past five years, services I have worked for have been asked to focus on education and learning, providing an access point for other services, contributing to the social care agenda and culture. Sometimes with a bit of reading thrown in. There seems to be no-one who is able or prepared to stand up and take a sensible decision nationally, whether it be on charging fines, or what libraries should fundamentally be for. I think that many library staff find this as frustrating as you do, Perkins.
Finally, I have to challenge the rubbish posted by Another Black Cat. Library finance is audited, and fines incomes has to tally with what is recorded on the management system. You are accusing hundreds of people of a serious crime based entirely on hearsay and your own prejudice.

Returning books on time would be easier for many working people, of course, if libraries kept retail-style hours seven days a week - but on the other hand, what's to stop libraries having a 'night safe' type of returns letterbox on the outside wall, so you could just post your books through?

The Lis Pub Libs have been raging all day on this subject of library fines. A frenzy of opinion (though not many facts or identifiable pieces of information) bubbles away. It is as if the Russian army had taken up knitting and gossip.

Someone even went so far as to suggest that an outcome might be a research programme with a time table. Wowee.

Yet there is no chance whatsoever that the collective of those responsible will actually do anything- that the public would ever notice

Why don't the Lis Pub Libs (AKA the Judean People's Front, secondary committee) debate how many library fines can dance on the head of a pin? It would make as much sense.

@Amanda, all the libraries I remember using have had a returns letterbox. It doesn't stop books coming back late.

There are many libraries that don't have drop boxes. There was a time, at the height of the IRA bombings, when they were felt to be a security risk. Perhaps that policy, thankfully, can be reviewed now.