Marketing Assistant Jemima Warne investigates the cost of library late fees and their potential impact on student borrowing.
I’m a confirmed library girlie. I love to exercise my civic duty and utilise public services via my local book hub! I much prefer to borrow one than to buy it (cost of living crisis, anyone?), and if you’ve ever had to move house, you know just how heavy these damn tomes get. All that is to say, I enjoy a borrowed book. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of academic non-fiction (hello, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff), which I find most easily sourced from the uni.
Now, I know how libraries work. You go in, have a browse, pick way too many books and then check them out. I also know that most libraries have late fees, and that’s fine! I get that they have to discourage people from keeping books past their due date and cover the cost of a damaged or lost book. However, what I was not expecting was an email reminding me that my book was due soon, and there was a section at the end saying that the late fee would be $125 [1]. For a book that retails for about twenty to thirty bucks!
Luckily, I was able to return this book on time and avoid the late fees. However, I did this on the very last day before it was due and I had to make a special trip for it, which was extremely inconvenient, given my long commute. Yet I made it work because I absolutely didn’t have a spare one hundred and twenty-five dollars lying around for situations like this. Frankly, what uni student would?
General public libraries usually only charge a couple of dollars for late fees, and some have even done away with them entirely (Chatswood library, I am kissing you on the mouth, wish I still could borrow from there). I believe that lower or no fees make people more likely to utilise library services – a positive across all areas. More learning means a better educated and engaged community. High late fees or other penalties, on the other hand, mean poor engagement with library services and may make people think twice before they borrow.
Going back to university libraries though, I became curious about what other Sydney universities charged in late fees. I did a bit of Googling to find out if this was standard, or if Macquarie just hates us.
Notably, of the universities I researched, Macquarie University had the most expensive late fees. The University of Sydney [2] and the University of Technology Sydney [3] both charge $100 for a late item (after roughly 30 days). The University of New South Wales charges $120 for any standard loans (after 30 days) [4]. The Australian Catholic University (ACU) is much more merciful, charging students only fifty cents per day for a recalled item being late, and two dollars per day for general loans [5]. They also cap out at only fifty dollars, which is a bargain compared to the other institutions. Additionally, the University of Wollongong (UOW) is pretty comparable to ACU, as they charge three dollars per day for an overdue item [6].
I understand why late fees exist, and sometimes I appreciate the external pressure in making sure I finish a book on time. I just don’t get why it has to cost that much if you accidentally return your book late. Surely, Macquarie University (and the other big unis) can adopt a similar policy to ACU and UOW and charge a smaller fee based on the amount of time the book is late. Honestly, now I’m a little bit scared to borrow from our library in case a book gets recalled, or something comes up and I can’t return it on time.
There are so many things that I could spend that late fee money on, such as my rent, groceries, or a handful of little treats to get me through the semester. For a university that claims they’re all about their students, I don’t believe that’s the case here. That’s a shame, because libraries are repositories of knowledge and learning potential, and the threat posed by such significant late fees creates a barrier to that learning.
ENDNOTES
[1] Macquarie University. Borrowing. Macquarie University. 2024. https://www.mq.edu.au/about/facilities/library/resources/borrowing
[2] University of Sydney. Borrowing terms and conditions. University of Sydney. 2024. https://www.library.sydney.edu.au/about/governance/borrowing-terms-and-conditions#:~:text=There%20are%20no%20fines%20or%20blocks%20on%20your%20borrowing%20record
[3] University of Technology Sydney. Borrowing, Renewals, Fines and Access. University of Technology Sydney. 2024. https://www.lib.uts.edu.au/services/borrowing-renewals-fines-and-access
[4] University of New South Wales. Fines. University of New South Wales. 2024. https://www.library.unsw.edu.au/using-the-library/borrowing/fines
[5] Australian Catholic University. Fine, notices, recalls. Australian Catholic University. 2024. https://library.acu.edu.au/borrowing/fines-notices-recalls
[6] University of Wollongong. Borrowing. University of Wollongong. 2024. https://www.uow.edu.au/library/borrowing/
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