Overdue fines

Like most public libraries Masterton District Library imposes overdue charges for items that are not returned by their due date. These fines are designed to encourage borrowers to return their books, DVDs etc. on time. While the money we receive from overdue fees is incorporated into the library budget, we certainly don’t impose fines as a money-making exercise. The staff time spent processing or following up overdue books and charges makes it a less effective revenue stream, and more importantly we don’t want anyone to stop using the library because of charges on their card.


Most of the books and magazines in the library are issued for three weeks and an overdue charge of 20 cents per item per day will accrue from closing time on the day they are due. This includes all the children’s and young adult books, the graphic novel collection, talking books, CDs, the non-fiction and fiction collections. Overdue DVDs and magazines from the Premium Magazine collection are charged at the rate of 40 cents per item, per day, and because of their high popularity, books from the Hot Picks collection are charged at the rate of $1 per day.

The overdue fines are in place to encourage the prompt return of library items, allowing everybody to have reasonable access to them. However we don’t want fines to deter or prevent anyone from borrowing books. If there are any problems on your card relating to lost books, overdue books, or old fines, give us a call or come in and see us. We may be able to come to an arrangement to get the books back, the fines dealt with, and get you using your card again.

Obviously the easiest way to avoid overdue charges is to return your items before the due date. There are however numerous occasions when people want to keep a book for longer than the original issue period. It may have taken longer to read than anticipated, there may have been a disruption at home, or perhaps it’s simply a particularly unpleasant day and they don’t want to venture outside. Sometimes, and this even happens to librarians, we just forget when a book is due back.

In these cases overdue charges can usually be avoided by renewing a book, something you can do by coming into the library, calling us, or, if you have a PIN on your card, through our website. During the recent return of Swine Flu we had many borrowers ringing up to ask for extensions on their loans as they or their children were too unwell to venture out. Providing no other borrower has reserved the item(s) you can renew them for the same period as the initial loan. Generally we will only allow a book to be renewed once but if there are special circumstances get in touch with us and we may be able to renew it again.

Here at Masterton Library we do not stamp books with a due date stamp but provide borrowers with an issue slip which lists the items that have been borrowed, and when they are due. Many borrowers put these slips on their fridge or use them as a bookmark so they know when they are due. Some have even taken to adding the due date to the calendar functions of their mobile phones so they will receive an alert when the items are due.

If you have an email address we can establish an automated reminder notice to be sent to you four days before your items are due. Soon we will also be able to send automated reminder text messages to your mobile phone. If you are unsure of when an item is due, ask us and we can let you know. We can also give you a new print out of all the items on issue to you and when they are due back.

We are very aware that fines can quickly mount up, especially if there are a large number of items on issue, which is often the case when all family members are using the one card. I hope that the above information will help you in managing the items you have on loan from the library, and convey that we are as keen as you are to avoid overdue fines. The charges are in place to ensure fairness to all library users by encouraging the prompt return of library items. We know that this is not always possible and will do what we can to keep your charges to a minimum, and keep you using your library.