The library systems have made keeping a track of overdue books one of their top priorities, regardless of how long a book has been overdue. The fine for an overdue book usually keeps increasing every day till the day the book is returned. Such fines usually result in instant suspension of the privileges of the library account of the person who borrowed the book. It takes less than a minute to put a hold on an account of an individual in case of an overdue book, yet it takes a much longer amount of time to have that same hold removed after a book has been returned, or after the overdue fines have been paid off.

The “book overdue” policy at university libraries results not only in the library account being put on hold, which is what a traditional library would do, but also in the entire university account to be placed on hold also. I recently managed to incur huge overdue fines at my old university library for several dozen books. My account had been placed on hold from the very hour the books were overdue, and the fines for the books kept accruing every 24 hours. Because of the hold, I could not view my own basic university account information online, order transcripts or work on my degree. The nice thing about owing money to any corporation, or an educational institute, is that the institution will not provide you with any service unless you’ve paid off all the fees you owe them, regardless of any connection between the fine itself and the service you’re trying to get.

Payment of the fines does not mean that the hold will be taken off your account right away. Yesterday, I paid the overdue charges to the university library in order to access my records and transcripts. I was told that it would take up to a week or two for the university system to clear off the hold, the same system that took less than an hour to put the hold in the first place. I was told that if I did not wish to wait that long, I had the choice of showing my “overdue fine payment receipt” to any department that I visited on campus in order for that specific department to lift the hold off my account manually and temporarily for that day. It was interesting to see that the library instantly put a hold on my entire university account the moment I owed them fees, yet they left it up to me to clear out my account status with each department in the university on my own after I had paid the fines.

The notification system within any institution should be expanded beyond tracking individuals when it comes to financial matters. The same library system that takes less than a day to take away several features of an account should also be able to give those features back right away. Otherwise, such a system makes it harder for library users to do anything, whether they owe $200 in overdue fines or only a buck.

What is your opinion on this? Have you ever seen or heard something similar regarding your local library? Have you paid such fines yourself, or had your account restricted in some ways because of the overdue fines?