Those 25-Cent Fees Add Up for Library
Friday, June 18, 2010 at 7:48AM By Sara Hall/NB Indy
At just 25 cents per day, an overdue library book does not usually add up to much for a borrower.
But with 86,990 borrowers at the Newport Beach Public Library, said Tim Heatherton, library services manager for the Newport Beach Public Library, “If everyone had overdue fees, that could add up to a substantial amount.”
In fact, if every person with a Newport Beach library card, kept just one book out just one day too long, that would amount to $21,747.50 in overdue fees.
And while the majority of people return their borrowed items on time, enough don’t that the library last year collected $176,000 in fees for late and lost items.
“A small minority of customers have fee balances,” Heatherton said. “And generally those are all really small (amounts), less than $5.”
The highest balance he has ever seen in an individual account is a few hundred dollars. That particular person, Heatherton said, had multiple items out and never returned them.
The library’s practice is to send a letter or an email to a borrower three days beforehand, reminding them that an item is due and that they can also renew online.
“As a courtesy, we’ll give someone a heads up,” Heatherton said.
As for any kind of library investigations detective, as the popular TV sitcom “Seinfeld” once portrayed -- not at this library. If the item is overdue the borrower will receive a past-due notice letter or email, all of which is automated.
All library staff are trained to handle past due payments. Library patrons can also pay their fee balances online. If there are excessive fees it would be sent to collections, Heatherton said, just like any business. The collections agency would handle it from there. Although most people, Heatherton said, return their books and other borrowed items on time and it does not reach that point.
When an item is lost or damaged the library charges the cost for a replacement and a $10 processing fee (on each item lost). The processing fee pays for the finding and receiving the item, staff time, shelving costs, etc.
All that money does not go directly to the library, though: it goes into the city’s general fund, Heatherton said. It is, however, credited against the city’s Library expenditures and is part of the revenue projection used in the library’s annual budgeting, so it does come back to the stacks indirectly.
The library also charges $10 for a library card for non-California residents. In summer there is a big influx of non-California resident library cards being issued. Business overall slows down during summer, Heatherton said, but in that specific area of borrowers there is a big increase.
“There is a large tourist population (in Newport Beach) in summer,” said Heatherton. “We really do see a lot more out of state borrowers.”
He added that a big reason for the increase is the proximity of the Balboa branch of the library to the Peninsula.
Some of the other fees charged by the library include printing, photocopies and inter-library loans. All of these go into the city’s general fund.
Susan Giangrande, the senior budget analyst for the city, said that the top three sources of the city’s general fund come from property tax, sales tax and transient tax. Other city fees and payments, from the library past due fees to dog license fees, also end up in that account. The money is then used for various city expenses, the general operating costs Giangrande said, for the police, fire library and other city departments. According to the budget detail for the city of Newport Beach fiscal year 2009-2010, the fund pays for items ranging from the library operations to lifeguard training.
The total operating expenditure this year for the library is $6,661,185, Heatherton said, dwarfing the amount brought in via fees. The majority of the library budget does come out of the city’s general fund, Giangrande said. The groups Friends of the Library and Newport Beach Public Library Foundation also contribute to the library, Heatherton added.
Heatherton said the Newport Beach Public Library, which was ranked No. 1 among California public libraries in its population category according to Hennen’s American Public Library Rankings (HAPLR), said the city did a poll and found that 92 percent of residents hold a favorable view of the library.
“We really try to make the whole process easy for people,“ Heatherton said. “We pride ourselves in customer service and collections.”
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