You might have some hefty fines to pay when you finally get around to peeling off that film of dust on a book to return it to Alden Library.
Alden isn’t worrying though — it hardly affects the overall operating budget.
In addition to Alden’s roughly $4.2 million material budget, about an extra $21,700 was received in fees from overdue or lost items in fiscal year 2012-13, according to Deborah Daniels, Alden business unit manager and analyst.
Ohio University undergraduate and graduate students can check out books for a whole semester; fines don’t kick in until after their due dates.
For the 29 days after a library item is due, students have the option to return or replace it, though a $25 processing fee will still be charged. After that period, students will be billed an additional $75 for overdue Alden materials.
The preliminary fee is $50 instead of $25 if the material is from OhioLINK, a collaborative database between libraries throughout the state.
“(The number of missing books) is not a static number,” said Jan Maxwell, Alden’s assistant dean for library collections and access. “It changes every day, but it is also not representing books that are just newly missing.”
Statewide, many libraries have replaced a daily overdue charge in favor of a flat rate, regardless of whether the missing item is an expensive textbook or a cheap paperback, said Teresa Nelson, Alden’s head of circulation services.
With more than 2 million print volumes, the number of missing materials — 11,951 as of July 2013 — only accounts for a fraction of a percent of the resources available to library users, said Robin Krivesti, Alden Facilities and Stacks manager.
“Because we are an open stacks library, items can very easily be pulled out by patrons and not replaced (properly),” Krivesti said.
Multiple steps are taken to ensure that the books are actually missing and not just a shelf or two over, Maxwell said.
When a book is identified as missing, it will be marked as such in library records. From there, subject librarians must determine whether to replace the material. The popularity of the item and whether it is already available in OhioLINK is considered when looking into purchasing a particular item, said Scott Seaman, dean of OU Libraries.
“We buy things that are unique to the state that we know there is a demand for on the campus,” Seaman said. “It is a better use of the money.”
Multiple warnings are given to overdue offenders via text and email before a fine is placed on his or her account — a fine which will bar him or her from checking out books, registering for class or applying for graduation, Nelson said.
“Our attack on this is to teach people to go into their library account and then renew or see when (an item) is due,” Nelson said.
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