Effective for the 2012-2013 academic year, the Hilda C. Landers Library at St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM) eliminated daily overdue fines for undergraduates on books and some other materials. In 2019, nine years of comprehensive data on overdue returns (comprising three years before and three years after the change) was extracted from the…

The prompt return of checked out materials has been demanded by libraries for more than a century. Together with other measures such as overdue fines, library notices are used to bring in prompt returns by informing the users of their checked out items that will soon be due or are already overdue. The analysis of library notices sent in the past…

Answers commonly asked questions on library law that may arise under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Discusses fees for public records, rules libraries must follow for public information requests, individual library information-provision policy, and FOIA requirements for creation and disclosure of library records. (AEF)

An analysis of user requests for interlibrary loan materials revealed that about 5% of the total requests placed at the University of Oklahoma required lending fees. Costs and users' willingness to pay those costs are reviewed. Libraries seeking cost recovery would provide more efficient and democratic service if flat charges on all requests were…

As student fees, print vs. electronic access, service quality expectations, and basic economics have an increasing impact on library operations, some academic libraries are taking a second look at the process of charging overdue fines. This article explores the contemporary environment on this issue. It offers as an example a compromise solution…