Town’s libraries owed more than £10,000 in fines
Bookworms have racked up more than £10,000 in fines after thousands of items were borrowed in Maidstone and never returned.
Figures obtained from Kent County Council (KCC) show Kent History and Library Centre, in James Whatman Way, is owed more than £8,160 for outstanding books and DVDs.
A Freedom of Information Act request by the Kent Messenger also revealed facilities elsewhere in the borough, including Allington, Coxheath, Shepway and Bearsted, are due hundreds of pounds in fines.
Mike Hill, cabinet member for community and regulatory services, said: “Our public libraries are a community resource which needs to be accessible to everyone to use and enjoy.
“This includes the items which people borrow such as books, DVDs and talking books. It is free to join Kent’s library service and we want to encourage residents to borrow items as often as they wish. However, if customers do not return their items on time it simply means other people cannot use them.”
Kent History and Library Centre charges 15p for every day a book or CD is overdue and 50p a day for DVDs past their return date.
Libraries in the county also look to recover the postage cost of reminder letters sent out.
As of mid-December, Coxheath Library in Heath Road was owed the second largest amount, £940, Shepway Library in Northumberland Road had outstanding fines totalling £680, and Allington Library in Castle Road is owed £550 in fines for overdue items.
Cllr Hill said: “Library fines are the standard national library enforcement mechanism designed to ensure that library stock is returned within a certain period of time, so that everyone has the widest selection of books and other items to choose from.
“The £8,000 fines outstanding at The Kent History and Library Centre at Maidstone represents more than 12,800 items not returned on time and which are therefore inaccessible to other customers.
“Library fines are a small percentage of the overall library budget, but lost or unreturned library stock can be costly to replace.”