Yorkshire universities raise £600,000 in library-book fines in past three years

The University of Leeds accrued the most money from overdue books, collecting more than £211,000 in fines since the 2014/2015 academic year.

Leeds Beckett, which collected almost £150,000, came in second place, while Sheffield Hallam University was third with fines totalling £103,539 - a sharp contrast to the neighbouring University of Sheffield, which scrapped library fees in 2014.

A spokesperson for The University of Leeds said: “The university has five libraries and nearly 33,000 students, so our size is a factor in any comparison of library fines, and all fines are invested back into our libraries.”

However, the total figure across the region’s universities is expected to be even higher. When responding to The Yorkshire Post’s Freedom of Information request, the University of Hull and the University of Bradford responded with only last year’s figure to compare, with Hull collecting £32,744 and Bradford collecting £56,755 in 2015/2016 alone. York St John University has yet to issue a response.

With fines as little as 10p for each day a book is overdue, it shows students are returning thousands of books late each year.

The universities say all the fines are ploughed back into library services, with money spent on resources, including books and journals.

A spokesperson for Leeds Beckett University said: “Fines are used as a strategy to ensure the prompt return of books and to maximise book availability for all students in a context of sharing resources. Staff are also charged fines at the same level. Students generally support the use of fines to encourage their fellow students to bring back books promptly so they all get a chance to use them.”

Students at the University of Leeds, Sheffield Hallam University, the University of York and the University of Huddersfield only start incurring fines if the borrowed book has been requested by someone else. But this isn’t the case at the other universities where library members are fined when items are overdue.

Most students are fined around 20p for every day a book is overdue, but those at the University of Leeds can be charged up to £2.50 per day.

A Leeds University Union spokesperson said: “The cost of student living is an ongoing conversation between us and the university. We will continue to work with the libraries to ensure that students are kept well informed on policies and procedures that may lead to fines and that these are fair and transparent.”

Only one university - Sheffield Hallam - responded with a breakdown of who was returning the books late, with undergraduates being responsible for around 70 per cent of the fines. However, figures showed that more than three per cent of staff also weren’t returning their books on time.

Library fines at Yorkshire’s universities in the last three years (with the exception of Bradford and Hull University, which only provided figures for 2015/2016, and York St John, which has yet to respond):

University of Leeds - £211,072

Leeds Beckett University - £147,509

Sheffield Hallam University - £103,539

University of York - £73,160

University of Hull - £32,744

Leeds Trinity University -£27,682

University of Bradford - £56,755

University of Sheffield - no fees

York St John - no response