The January/February issue of Public Libraries includes a letter from Seth Stephens, Director of Jefferson Township Library in Oak Ridge, NJ. It offers a valuable alternative perspective on the whole issue of library fines and the use of collection agencies to go after patrons who have unreturned materials.
“The perspectives in Are Collection Agencies the Answer? (Public Libraries, Nov/Dec 2006) demonstrate that librarians misunderstand overdue and lost book fines. The greatest benefit of an overdue or lost book is the insight that is gained into the customer’s use of the library. Rather than asking what the occurrence of a fine says about how people want to use the library, the librarians in the article devote their energy to penalizing their customers and ultimately discouraging library use. Library customers must be truly devoted because no matter how hard the profession obsesses about overdue and lost fines, our customers keep coming back.
Rampant cases of overdue fines are an indicator that the library needs to review its lending periods on materials to make sure they satisfy their customers. Thomas Pynchon’s new book is more than 900 pages long. Librarians should ask themselves if it is fair to have loan periods that treat materials all the same regardless of their length. Is it realistic to have the same loan period for a ten-DVD set as it is a single DVD? One parent at my library suggested that the loan period on children’s videos should be synchronized with the story hour schedule so that she didn’t have to make an extra trip to return her videos on time. Makes sense to me.
Overdue fines also offer insight on collection development. Fines are relevant to the demand for a book. If the demand for a book merits the imposition of a punitive fine, perhaps the library should consider if it has enough copies of a book to satisfy demand. I would rather purchase more books than hire a collection agency.
Overdue fines also offer insight into how easy the library is to use. Are there convenient ways to return materials to the library? I know of one libary that realized fewer overdue materials once it allowed patrons to return videos and books on tape in the book drop. Are the book drops outside the library locked when the library is open? How easy is it to renew books? Can it be done online? And how easy is it to locate online renewal from your library’s Web site? Does your library allow people to renew books over the phone, and if so, is there a limit? Can your patrons inquire about an overdue book on the phone, but not renew books? One could surmise that from the customer’s perspective it is easier to pay an overdue fine than it is to return a book in a timely manner or renew it. What does it say when multimillion-dollar circulation systems can initiate a reminder to the customer only when their materials are overdue? Most businesses remind you thirty days before a bill is due.
Management expert Peter Drucker states that a business can only be understood when it is viewed from the outside. When librarians ignore the insight that can be gained from asking why overdue and lost books occur, they lose an important opportunity to improve their library and how it is perceived. Let’s stop obsessing and ask ourselves what overdue and lost books can tell us about our customers.”
Liz Rea is the Network Administrator at NEKLS. You can reach her by email (lrea (at) nekls.org), phone, or on several instant messaging platforms (look Liz up by her email address). Visit the 
