The Mossey Library checks out hundreds of items every day, making it the main source for research material on campus. In order to guarantee that each item is returned and all late fines are paid, the library has the capability of placing a restriction on student accounts.
Linda Moore, public service librarian, explained that students commonly forget they have acquired library fines until the end of the semester when grades are posted.
“If the end of the semester comes and you haven’t returned your materials or paid your fines, we send a list to the business office, and they put a restriction on your account,” Moore said.
This restriction blocks the student from accessing grades on WebAdvisor, receiving their diploma, or accessing transcripts.
“We really don’t particularly want students to pay fines,” Moore said. “We are much more interested in making sure the materials get returned.”
The library has not raised it’s fines since 1995 when it transitioned to a computerized circulation. Fine rates per day currently stand at 20 cents for books and 50 cents for DVD or CD.
Back when the fine was 10 cents a day, Moore said she remembers a student who had over $500 in fines for a semester.
“It was not the first time that this student had acquired a large amount of fines,” Moore said. “He didn’t want to be bothered, and was willing to pay.”
All library fines collected are deposited into the college’s general fund.
“It indirectly benefits the library because we get money back from the general fund to buy more items for our collection” Moore said.
In 2005, the library joined with the Michigan Electronic Library Catalog and the Inter Library Loan. Due to the liability of borrowing items from other libraries, Mossey Library instituted a daily 50-cent fine per overdue MeLCat or ILL item.
“When you borrow a book from another institution, we are responsible for it from the time it leaves the library until the time it gets here,” Moore said.
In the past 10 years, the library has lost around 190 items through the MelCat and ILL, Moore said. The fine was created in order to deter students from returning items late.
“We want to make sure that all libraries are willing to send materials to our students,” Moore said.
Junior KC Ham, a library reference worker, said the majority of students who acquire fines tend to check out many DVDs or MeLCat items.
“Typically the student reaction to library fines is disbelief or annoyance – especially when they thought they turned it back in,” Ham said. “It is not our fault, they didn’t return it.”
Ham said towards the end of the semesters its not uncommon for students to have triple-digit fines.
Moore said that over the years the library has adopted technology to help students avoid fines.
Currently, the library sends out courtesy emails reminding students of the approaching due date of their books.
“We use to make the students bring the books back in order to renew them: now they can renew them online,” Moore said. “As long as no one else asks for the book, the students could virtually keep them out all semester.”
To Moore, the most important reason for instituting the fine system is to get the materials returned.
“Every students get warned. We just want the items to get back in time.”
