Remember the good ole library days when renting a book and returning it on time was not a big issue. As times went on a low fee was set in place to try to keep people on track to return books on time. Now that low fee has turned into a big deal because patrons are not quick to return books on time let alone at all, and your now delinquent account of .35 cents per day increased to 25 dollars or more because you have not returned your book in over 60 days!
Alexandria Libraries are now calling action and patrons who hold an outstanding tab due to negligence will now be turned over to a multinational collection agency named Unique Management Services. This process will start on June 15.
What brought about this change?
There had been a few years of budget cuts and failed attempts to claim overdue fines and missing material and Director of Alexandria’s Libraries Rose Dawson saw this as necessary action. You may be asking yourself what the big deal is. The big deal is that there are over 200,000 dollars worth of outstanding dues owed to Alexandria VA libraries. The sad part is that patrons have made it hard on themselves. The libraries have made it very convenient to pay back owed money. A long time ago, they use solely accept cash but as technology arises so do libraries and they now accept debit cards as well as give patrons the option to pay via Internet!
Alexandria Virginia libraries have made it easy for you to pay those fines so it is expected that you do so and returned borrowed books in a timely manner. If a patron reaches, the level of getting turned over to a collection agency this can eventually hurt their credit and cost them more if they do not hold up their end of the bargain and pay the overdue fee.
We should all be adults about the situation. Libraries do almost everything except walk you back from your home to the library to make the return. They send you notices as the deadline approaches via mail, phone or email.
Although it seems extreme to implement a collection agency, it affects Alexandria Libraries even more. Their incurred library debt is much more than your late fee. When a person borrows a book from a library, it is trusted that the person will hold their end of the bargain and return the book on time or pay the late fee. Patrons have caused this to come about because essentially this was a last resort for Alexandria, VA libraries.
If you are the type of person who knows the probability of you making a return and are susceptible to incurring late, fees try purchasing a book from your local retail bookstore. It would save everyone a headache.
