With charges upward of $90 for late library books for some students, Mugar Memorial Library’s late fees can be just as imposing as its caged upstairs graduate cubicles.
While most public libraries fine a standard 10 cents per book per day late, BU’s charge is 50 cents on books that are part of open stacks. After 30 days overdue, the charge quadruples to $2 per day per late item. If the item needs replacing, the library tacks on a $100 fee, or the cost of the item – whichever is greater.
The only people excused from most late fees are faculty and staff, who are only responsible for recall fines and unreturned item charges.
Mugar director Robert Hudson said the primary reason for the high fees is to return books to the shelves, so other people can use them.
“If you renew your books and return them on time, you’re fine,” Hudson said.
He said among universities the standard daily fine on overdue books is between 25 and 50 cents, and said that overall the number of BU students being charged late fees has declined in recent years. And, he said, although some might think the library must be rolling in delinquent-book dollars, late-fee revenue is not a big moneymaker.
“There are 30,000 university affiliates who are able to borrow books, and typically the average is a $3 fine,” Hudson said.
Fines can be dropped or negotiated as long as the book is returned, and students can settle fines over the desk with staff in most situations. In more complicated scenarios, when fines have already been billed to student accounts, they cannot be adjusted or negotiated immediately.
“I use the library books, especially if I have to read them for class,” said College of General Studies sophomore Katya Belakovskaya. “I just borrow it and just renew it.”
While some students said they simply remember to renew books to avoid fines, other students said large late fees on their accounts have scared them out of borrowing books altogether.
“My second semester I was writing an art history paper and I borrowed three books and was just lazy about returning them – I was a month late and when I took them back, I had a $90 late fee,” said CGS sophomore Jocelyn Czulewicz. “I haven’t really borrowed books since.”