Letter: This lib­rary books returns policy deserves atten­tion

One altern­at­ive to lib­rary fines, which Sou­maya Keynes men­tions briefly in her column “Are lib­rary fines reach­ing their denoue­ment?” (Opin­ion, Octo­ber 20), is to tem­por­ar­ily block fur­ther with­draw­als for bor­row­ers who return their books late. This policy deserves greater atten­tion.

I used to live in Andalusia in Spain, where lib­rary users are blocked from bor­row­ing any­thing for one day, for each day a book is over­due. It proved far more effect­ive than the threat of a fine.

I think it works like this: the people who return lib­rary books late are pre­cisely the same people who want to be able to bor­row them at will, then keep them lying around only to return them late again. In other words, we book lov­ers are a selfish bunch.

The thought of being pre­ven­ted from bor­row­ing whatever I liked, whenever I liked, saw me run­ning to return my books, and sorely ruing the two or three days I was repeatedly deprived of my rights.

Alas­dair Gil­lon
Edin­burgh, UK