Library Offenders Soon to be Publicly Listed, Civil Lawsuits to be Filed

The internet is useful, but sometimes one just needs a book. Maybe it’s on a specialized topic, maybe a teacher requested a review, or maybe one just wants to read a novel. Perusing the shelves of the Tom Green County Library, it can be disheartening to find that those desired pages are missing. It’s even more irritating to find that it’s not that the library doesn’t own the book, they just no longer possess it. This is currently the situation for over 2,000 open cases of delinquent accounts within the county.

Reference materials, projectors, novels and other library merchandise have been lost, stolen, or simply forgotten about, and aside from the very minimal fines one receives and a block on future checkouts, there’s not been much the county could do about it. Not until now.

“There’s a new law that was passed that basically says you can file civil action [lawsuits] for people that don’t return their library books [or other items that they’ve checked out],” explains Tom Green County Treasurer Dianna Spieker. “There are people that have more than $500 worth of books, projectors and other items.”

Now, the county wants those items back, and as of March 1, they’re going to vigilantly pursue acquiring them. The county’s library system has files going back 10-12 years, Spieker says, and in accordance with the new law, civil action will be taken to make sure the items are restored or paid for.

While the fines for overdue books start off at 10 cents a day past the due date, the library has a cap of $4 set for each book, regardless of actual value. When items are grossly overdue, the county assumes a loss and replacement materials are ordered. At that point, the individual who has checked out the material must pay the library’s cost for that item, which is severely discounted due to the quantity libraries purchase. One could therefore check out any book, use it, ‘forget’ to return it, and ‘own’ the property for much less than the actual value.

In order to discourage ‘forgetfulness’, each case pursued by the county will cost citizens $235 in court fees, plus attorney fees and the original fines and cost of material that was not returned. This means that although the fines or ultimate balance due to replace the items is low, in the end failure to responsibly return the items will soon cost much more.

Since 2008, 4,858 cases of missing material have been turned over to the county’s Compliance Office, and 2,851 have been resolved. The remaining 2,007 cases account for a balance of $113,128.67, 49 of which are individuals whose balances equal $200 or more.

Since each individual can check out 50 books at a time, the missing monetary value of the merchandise adds up quickly. If two people in one household possess a library card the limit doesn’t change, meaning that a two-person household could be in possession of 100 books at any given time.

School teachers and homeschooled children might need to check out more than the average library card holder, but Spieker emphasizes the county’s objective is not to go after teachers and little old ladies with dusty books in their closets.

“We would rather have the items returned than file a civil suit,” she says. “The individual(s) have enjoyed the item(s), now it is someone else’s turn. It is the taxpayers’ money that provides the books for the Library, so it is the taxpayers who pay to replace those books when they are not returned.”

Jill Donegan, Interim Library Director, reiterated the same point. “I think that the civil action thing is just in an effort to get people to be more responsible of the usage of the collection,” Donegan said. “We’re always willing to work with the patrons on things if something happens and they can’t bring the books back.”

Donegan says the scenario in which a library patron is seeking an item that has not been returned is a common one, and adds that the most common offenders are those checking out test-preparation materials, such as GED and GRE prep books. Popular DVDs and CDs are also commonly misplaced, Donegan says, stating once more, “We just want to get the items back.”

To underscore the goal of retrieving the missing property, the county is hosting “Amnesty Month” for all of February, encouraging citizens with books and other merchandise to return the items without fear of being slapped with a civil suit.

“It’s kind of like when they do the hot checks amnesty thing,” Spieker says. “If you’ve got fines and fees, go pay them, because we don’t want you in our jail—that’s kind of what this is. We’ve heard a lot of people who have called us and said ‘Oh, it was so old, I thought y’all probably took it off the books,’” she continues. “No, it’s still there.”

Beginning on March 1, the county will be publicly listing the names of those with delinquent library accounts in an effort to spur movement on returning the items. Items may be returned at any time during regular business hours this month without fear of legal retribution. Failure to do so and pay outstanding fines will result in being added to the list with the possibility of a lawsuit.

“No one wants to be known as ‘the library offender,’” Spieker said.