Over £158,000 in book fines owed to Essex libraries » Local Government » 24dash.com

Over £158,000 is owed to Essex County Council's Library Service in outstanding fees and charges, according to new figures.

The County Council is now urging customers to pay up, or from February 1st 2007, any customers refusing to clear their debts will have their library service membership temporarily suspended.

County Councillor Iris Pummell, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: "Although individual customer's debts may be small, the total outstanding at any one time adds up to this significant amount. The service is already facing budgetary challenges and the County Council has a duty to the people of Essex to manage debt responsibly."

The core book loan service is free for a period of three weeks. Fees and charges are only applied to services that customers choose to use outside of this core service, for instance, keeping books out for longer than the free loan period, or borrowing DVDs or CDs.

85% of all material loaned never becomes overdue and an analysis of outstanding debt shows that 43% of the debt is owed by just 7.3% of customers.

A snapshot analysis shows that:

"There may be a number of people who have simply forgotten to pay or just have not got around to it. I would ask that they pop in to their local library to clear their debts straight away, " continued Councillor Pummell.

"However, there are unfortunately some customers who refuse to pay their fees and charges. They are a small minority, but when you look at the figures, the amount outstanding is a significant amount."

The income from fees and charges forms an integral part of the libraries budget. Collecting the money when it is due enables the Service to continue to buy books, open libraries and staff them effectively. If the library service does not collect the money due to the Council then this impacts on other parts of the budget.

The right to suspend customers membership if monies are owed is stated under Essex County Council's By Laws made under Section 19 of Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.