A library of excuses for books
● The dog chewed them, the baby tore them, burglars made off with them.
Those are some of the excuses that librarians hear when people cannot return their library books.
South Africans owe millions of rands in library fines and thousands of books are overdue for months.
Since the start of this year, borrowers in Cape Town owe the city’s 102 libraries R3.2m in fines, and more than 64,700 books are still outstanding. Last year the city wrote off unreturned books worth over R1.7m.
Since July, Durban residents owe 94 libraries R52,540 and 13,746 books. It has blocked thousands of people until their debts are paid.
In his more than 43 years behind the counter at various Durban libraries, retired librarian and district manager Deena Nair has heard every excuse in the book.
The most common was that the outstanding books were stolen.
“The non-return of library material, including books and non-book materials like CD, DVD, video and music material, is a major issue internationally,” Nair said.
He does not believe that harsh penalties will work. “This will worsen the situation as this is one of the reasons that some members are afraid to come to return when they are in default.”
The country’s libraries usually have an amnesty period to allow people to return books.
City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for community services and health Zahid Badroodien said: “To encourage patrons to return overdue material, we’ve had three fine-free periods so far in 2019.
The number of returned items for the combined amnesty efforts for the year is 32,224, with fines waived for R195,106.”
eThekwini municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said stricter measures were needed.
“Not returning books has a huge impact on the issues of increasing stock and ensuring that items are always available in the library. The fines are meant to be a deterrent from the habit of not returning books. The department would rather have books returned on time versus collecting fines as the main aim is to foster the culture of being responsible and the understanding that library materials are meant to be shared by all.” He added that the municipality did not write off fines.
The City of Johannesburg didn’t respond to queries about its status of library fines or overdue books.