Our libraries send an invoice to the people who have unpaid dues.
And they can’t loan anything before the dues have been paid.
Might even go to collections if you’re enough of an ass
Our libraries send an invoice to the people who have unpaid dues.
And they can’t loan anything before the dues have been paid.
Might even go to collections if you’re enough of an ass
papalonian@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Our libraries have mostly moved away from this model. I may have some details mixed up but I believe there was a study done that showed books were more likely to be returned without the late fee than with a fee.
Basically people will feel ashamed or embarrassed to return a book so late (or maybe in extreme cases cannot easily afford the couple dollars) so they end up stealing the book and never returning it. So now the library has to buy a $10 book because someone couldn’t pay the $5 late fee. It just makes more sense in the long run to let people bring the book back late without penalty vs not bring it back at all in fear of a fee.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 hours ago
Late fees have largely been abandoned, yes. But lost book fees are still widely in use. They’ll just lock your account until you either return the book or pay for a replacement.