Library Week: return books!

The cities of Cape Town and Ekurhuleni are offering an amnesty to library members to return overdue books as part of South African Library Week this week.

Cape Town is offering amnesty to everyone who has overdue books in their possession in a bid to reclaim more than 20 000 overdue library items valued at nearly R2 million, mayoral committee member for safety and security and social services, JP Smith, said yesterday.

Cape Town’s library and information service was desperate to be reunited with thousands of items that had not been returned by library users.

Currently, there were more than 20 000 items, including books, study guides, and DVDs that were long overdue at the city’s libraries, he said.

The top 20 list of items comprised children’s books such as The Three Little Pigs, Frozen, and Die Lelike Eendjie (The Ugly Duckling), and Grade 12 study guides for subjects such as physical science, accounting, and geography.

The mobile library services were most affected, with nearly 2 500 items that had not been returned.

“Our library service receives and manages material on behalf of the provincial library service. When patrons do not return the material, the city is held liable by province for the losses incurred. We are in the process of finalising our losses for 2017 and at this stage, it appears that more than 20 000 items with an approximate value of R1.8 million have not been returned,” Smith said.

Users with overdue books could return them during South African Library Week (March 1924) and all penalties for the overdue material would be waived.

Ekurhuleni mayoral committee member for community services Dora Mlambo said that as part of the Library Week celebrations, patrons would not be charged any fee for late returns.

This year’s theme for finefree library week was “Libraries: Heart of the Community”.

The theme sought to emphasise the idea that libraries belonged to the community. – ANA