Don’t fear the fine

Will Matthews pays thousands of dollars to attend Pitt, but he did not expect to owe another $1,000 to Hillman Library.

Matthews, a senior psychology and communications major, checked out seven books in spring 2014 to do research for a communications project. He forgot to return the books before leaving for the summer, but wrote off his overdue notices until the University hit him with a $1,000 bill for “lost” books.

“I was freaked out,” said Matthews, who ended up only having to pay a tenth of his fines.

Though Hillman Library often sends large bills to students for overdue books, it rarely makes students pay the full amount, said Caroline Hopper, Hillman Library’s Information Center desk manager. Pitt’s fines are high, Hopper said, “to encourage the prompt return of borrowed materials” so others can use the books students might have accidentally tucked away while moving into a new apartment or cleaning their rooms.   

When students receive a large bill, Hopper said they return the “lost” item almost immediately. The library dissolves the lost fee and the processing fee, and all students owe is the accumulated sum of daily fines, according to the University Library System website.

This system works because loss is an “especially influential,” factor said Christian Schunn, a psychologist at Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center.

“They make the pain point so high that the only rational thing is for you to [return the book],” Schunn said.

Pitt charges 25 cents per day for an overdue book, and raises the charge to between $1 per day and $1.80 per hour for overdue reserve books. After 45 days, Pitt considers a book “lost” and charges a $100 replacement fee as well as a $25 processing fee.

Other university libraries, like the ones at Chatham University and Pennslyvania State University, use similar fine systems to get their books back.

“It’s enough money to get people’s attention … it’s meant to be an uncomfortable amount,” Chatham’s Access Services Librarian Amy Lee Heinlen said.

Emily Anthony panicked when the Hillman Library got her attention with a $237.60 bill in June, but that nervous energy helped her find the lost automotive erogonomics books she borrowed in March.

“I tore my apartment apart to find the book, returned it that day, and all but $37.60 of the fees disappeared,” Anthony, a senior mechanical engineering major, said.

University libraries use a different fine system than public libraries as a university library is more of a service that students pay for, Schunn said. The public library is a public commodity and if it were “overly punitive,” he said the library would repel more people than it would bring in.

According to Lawry, public libraries also have lower fines because they catalog novels and media, while universities carry more expensive academic material.

“The fee is what we’re paying [to replace our materials]. No profit, just a balancing out,” Beth Lawry, the library’s customer service manager, said. “It’s minimal, not punitive. We really just want to keep our collection intact.”

Oakland’s public Carnegie Library charges 30 cents per day for overdue items, but that accumulation caps at the cost of the particular book.

Lawry said if a borrower returns the overdue book, Carnegie reduces the fine to $5 no matter how long a person kept it out. According to Kelsey Collins, library assistant at Carnegie, once an unusually long amount of time has passed, the library will bill the person for the cost of the book plus a $5 processing fee. At this point, the transaction will appear on their credit report.

To avoid fines, small or large, as well as the stress of opening up an email that’s actually a $300 bill, Heinlen advised students to stay on top of due dates.

“If a student contacts the library, we’ll be able to find a less expensive solution,” Heinlen said.