Library in forgiving mood: $705,000 to be written off

Wednesday, June 9, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

Thousands of people who owe money for overdue books may be able to get library cards again if Las Vegas-Clark County Library District decides Thursday to delete almost $705,000 in late fees and lost books from the system.

"All our efforts to collect these items have failed," Daniel Walters, executive director of the library district, said. "We have to deem them not collectible."

The move will allow about 13,000 library patrons with fines under $10 to get library cards again because their accounts will be deleted from the database. Walters said it would cost the library more to continue pursuing those fines than the debts are worth.

But those with fines and missing materials totaling more than $50 -- about 3,700 people -- will be re-entered into the database manually and will still not be able to receive a library card until the materials are returned or paid for, Walters said.

"I'm much more concerned about people who would steal library materials than someone who has a $10 fine" but has returned the materials, Walters said. "The real people hurting this system are those who take the library materials and don't return them."

The fines and the missing items have been in the library's database since 1999, the first time such a purge was done. Walters said the district now plans to purge the system annually of 5-year-old records.

Unreturned books that were perpetually "checked out" will instead be marked as "lost, not paid" in the database after the purge.

The move is appropriate, library collection officials said, because fines are typically uncollectible after three years.

"If the debts and obligations go beyond that, the percentage of recovery is very slim," said Kenes Bowling, manager of customer development for Unique Management Services, the library district's collection agency.

Library officials think many of the borrowers in default have left town due to the county's high transient population, but Bowling said Clark County's losses are on par with libraries across the nation.

Only 1 percent to 1.5 percent of borrowers fail to return their books, Bowling said, but in a large library district like Las Vegas-Clark County, that 1 percent accounts for hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

The library charges 25 cents per day for overdue material, excluding juvenile materials, and sends out notices after the fine reaches $4. After 45 days the library district sends the account to Unique Management Services.

With more than 10,000 million books in circulation, Walters said, it's inevitable that some people may not return materials.

"No matter how diligent we are we will have people who rip us off," Walters said.