How We See It: Siloam Springs Library Fines Could Become Too Much

Whether it's Lt. Bookman's over-the-top enforcement efforts on "Seinfeld" or a recurring dream about the realization of years worth of library fines, the overdue book has earned a place in the American experience.

In Siloam Springs, failing to return a booked checked out from the public library might just become serious business if a proposed ordinance finds support. The ordinance would establish fines and allow issuance of a citation. City Attorney Jay C. Williams said the fines for the citation could be as much as $500, saying the proposal "does give us the teeth to make the threat" of enforcement.

What's The Point?

A proposed change to allow citations and fines for long-overdue library books in Siloam Springs has the potential to go too far in the admirable effort to recover public property.

Siloam Springs isn't the only community focusing attention on those inconsiderate, forgetful or dishonest folks who take advantage of the communal bookshelves at the public library.

For a Copperas Cove, Texas, man, a 2010 check-out led last October to his arrest, forcing him to post a $200 bond and appear in court over a GED study guide that had never been returned to the local library. Library officials said at the time an arrest on an outstanding warrant is rare, but not unheard of when the library patron has ignored all attempts to recover the library's property.

According to news reports, the man returned the book the day after his arrest.

The Associated Press reported on an arrest in 2011, when a man from Newton, Iowa, served more than a week in jail for failing to return 11 library books and six CDs worth $770. The librarian involved said she saw a spike in returned overdue items in the wake of the man's arrest.

It's easy to chuckle at such amusing news items, but the permanent "borrowing" of library materials doesn't make librarians laugh. The Texas Library Association, according to The Associated Press, reported last year the state's libraries had 966,000 items checked out long enough to be considered lost, amounting to a total value of $18.2 million.

In an age of tight library materials budgets, protecting the books already on the shelves is a necessity.

Library officials in Siloam Springs note that the proposed fines and citation would come well after they had exhausted reasonable efforts to recover the public property through notifications.

So, will Siloam Springs get tough on these offenders? City leaders were a little leery.

"That sounds like more than teeth," Scott Jones, city director, said.

A move to table the ordinance failed. Jones' attempt to strip away the language about fines earned three favorable votes, but four votes are required to pass an item. The ordinance is currently scheduled for a second reading at the board of directors' meeting Tuesday.

We appreciate librarians' protective pursuits to ensure books and other materials acquired for the public library get to serve their purpose, being accessible to all patrons. But it's also hard to imagine anyone being hauled to jail over an outstanding fine or facing a penalty many times the value of the material they checked out. There should be a price to pay, but a penalty measured in hundreds of dollars appears exorbitant.

Those who check out library books, however, should embrace their responsibility to the community at-large and return borrowed materials so others can access them. We appreciate libraries, such as Siloam Springs, that hold regular amnesty periods that encourage people to return overdue materials without penalty.

Like the directors, however, we question the need to throw the book at people. Fines should approximate the cost of the materials missing or damaged, plus some smaller penalty.

Commentary on 03/03/2014

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