Incentives to get people to return books 2016 – you said, we did

Over the last couple of years we have been talking with student representatives in the Students Union about how to encourage people to return their library books so that they are available for other people. Here are a few changes we have made from their suggestions which we hope will improve your access to books in the Library:

• You thought that our fines on books which have been recalled were too low and did not encourage people to return them.
  • We raised the fine from 20p to 40p per day

• You would sometimes miss our emails telling you that a book you have out has been recalled and so got unnecessary fines.
  • We now text recall messages as well as emailing them where possible

• You said that we took too long to tell you that your books were overdue and so you got more fines.
  • We have shortened the timings. You will now get 3 overdue reminders followed by an invoice over 25 days rather than 50 days

• You felt that stopping people from borrowing after they owed £10 did not discourage them from getting fines by returning their books late
  • We have changed this block to £5

• You thought that our notices were not clear enough and too intimidating and so made you worried about coming into the Library with overdue books.
  • We have made our notices easier to understand and will phone or text you when you are going to receive an invoice so that you know how the process works