There are more than $1.4 million in unpaid fines owed to Ohio State Libraries. But despite the weak economy, library officials said there is no evidence that more patrons are struggling to pay library fines, and the library has collected more than $80,000 in fines since July.
Diane Sliemers, business manager for the OSU libraries, said the fine total represented the entire amount owed by all faculty, staff, students and friends of the library, but that “at any given point that number can change drastically.”
These figures are cumulative and could represent unpaid fines from as long as 15 years ago, said Tony Maniaci, coordinator of the library circulation services.
Sliemers said that calculating the fine total is complicated because the numbers shift day to day.
Students with books that are far overdue are charged a $140 replacement fee because the book is assumed lost. If the books are eventually returned, then often the fee will be revoked.
Unlike most public libraries, such as the Columbus Metropolitan Library, OSU’s libraries do not charge daily late fees for borrowed items unless they have been requested by someone else. Maniaci said this is common for academic libraries.
This “encourages the idea that we want to get this material to another person, not to penalize,” said Larry Allen, communications coordinator for OSU Libraries.
Often the focus is on getting the materials back, Sliemers said.
“We’re not here to collect money. We don’t want students’ money,” she said. “We want our books back.”
However, after 90 days, students who owe more than $75 have their accounts placed on a financial hold. They are barred from registering for classes and cannot receive grades, transcripts or financial aid.
As of Dec. 31, 2009, there were 379 students who had holds placed on their accounts, and the total amount that those students owed was more than $123,000.
Sliemers said it is important to understand that this number is also constantly in flux. For example, she said more students pay off their fines in September in order to enroll in classes.
Patrons of the Columbus Metropolitan Library owed about $1.1 million in outstanding fines at the beginning of 2008, said Nick Tepe, manager of the circulation division there. That was the most recent information available.
“It’s largely a function of the fact that we are such a large library,” Tepe said of the total in unpaid fines, which fluctuates but generally stays around $1 million. There are 21 branch libraries and 540,000 cardholders in the metropolitan library system.
In contrast, Tepe said that in 2009 the library collected about $1.9 million in fines from patrons. The budget for the library is around $42 million, most of which comes from property taxes and state funding.
“We’ve done a variety of different approaches to try to get people to resolve their accounts and to get back in good standing with the library,” Tepe said. After $10 in fines, patrons can no longer use library services.
These measures include sending e-mails and postcards to patrons.
For items worth $25 or more that have been left unreturned for more than 35 days, the Columbus library uses a collection agency. At some point, unpaid library fines could affect a patron’s credit score, Tepe said.
He said the numbers did not suggest that people were having more trouble than usual paying off their fines due to the poor economy.
“I have a feeling that people who are having economic difficulties are more eager to pay off their fines because they realize how useful it is to be able to use the library,” Tepe said, making note of the job search help and free computer use offered at the library.
The Fresh Start program in the Columbus library system allows people to “read off” their fines: For every hour they spend reading in the library, $8 comes off their fine total.
While OSU’s libraries do not offer a similar program, students can appeal their fines online. Maniaci said the library ends up waiving more fines than collecting — but only with good reason.
“If it’s a good reason we try to take it into consideration, while still being fair to everyone else,” he said.
Denisha Bruce, a second-year in biology, is in the process of reading off her fines at the Columbus library. She said she checked out movies for her younger brother who returned them late. She was stuck with a $66.60 fine, but she said she has already “read off” more than half of that.
Besides cash-strapped college students, Bruce said the Fresh Start program is also a solution for those “on the more financially unstable side of Columbus.”
“There are kids who rack up a lot of money, and they can’t check out books anymore, and their parents don’t have [the money],” she said. “So it’s really good that they can come in and read them off for free.”
