ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 17, 1996 TAG: 9606170024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FAIRFAX
An overdue library book doesn't sound like much of a crime, but the books add up.
The Fairfax County library says it is owed more than $250,000 in fines and overdue books.
Now the library is cracking down.
It has hired a collection agency to apply pressure.
``We're not in this to make money,'' library director Sam Clay said. ``We just want the materials back. We feel the more aggressive we are, the better chance we have of recovering the materials and getting the fines paid.''
Twenty-one thousand books and tapes are missing from the library's 2.1 million items, Clay said. The value of the books and the amount of unpaid fines total $256,000.
Beginning in April, Equifax Risk Management Services of Atlanta started mailing letters to library users who owe more than $40 in fines. The courteous but firmly worded letters - which begin, ``The purpose of this letter is to collect a debt'' - went out to 267 patrons who owed a cumulative $22,000 in fines and materials.
In the past, the library had sent patrons with overdue books a polite letter, then a bill. If librarians received no response, the fine accumulated at 20 cents a day, but the patron was not hassled for the money.
``Unfortunately, there are some folks who take advantage of the system,'' Clay said.
The borrower who checked out a book and 10 tapes titled ``How to Sell New Homes and Condos'' headed off with $1,860 worth of library property.
A patron apparently preparing for the good life checked out 42 books on languages, travel, cooking and music. The books, worth $790, have not come back.
The library's campaign to bring the crime wave to an end has had good results.
The first week, 36 letters went out, and 13 patrons came in to return books and pay fines, Clay said. The second week, half of the 38 nimble-fingered borrowers who got letters paid up.
Clay said the library collected $552 in fines alone in April. In May, patrons contacted by the collection agency paid $519.25 in fines and reimbursed the library $433.91 for books they had lost.
Using the collection agency clearly has been financially worthwhile, Clay said. The library paid $200 for the first 267 letters and has collected more than $1,475.
So far, those who received the letters have reacted positively, said Sharon Fadgen, circulation manager at the George Mason Regional Library, part of the Fairfax library system.
``One of the people who came in was a mother, and she had these books ... for her daughter that were overdue,'' the librarian said. ``She said it had just slipped her mind, and this letter was just the boost she needed to get her to bring them in.''
Clay said the collection agency will work for the library for six months. Library officials will then consider whether to have it continue the work.
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