![]() "What we encounter is that people do think that it's just a book. ![]() Its end-game is reporting the debt to the patron's credit bureau, which could negatively affect their credit score. Unique Management Services doesn't issue arrest warrants, but the Jefferson, Ind., company contracts with about 1,500 libraries across the country to go after patrons who ignore the library's pleas to return materials. ![]() ![]() The blase attitude some have toward returning library books in a timely fashion - or at all - can cost libraries thousands of dollars a year in lost inventory. "An individual is retaining possession of a property that does not lawfully belong to them." "It's a service we provide," Wenton said. Grafton Police Chief Charles Wenton said Dalibor was arrested on a contempt of court charge for ignoring the court date in her citation for failure to return library materials. "He said, 'Rumor said you could use another copy of this,'" Hanson said, referring to Brown's note.īlase Attitude Toward Library Books Costs Thousands Each Year The case made headlines, and "Angels and Demons" author Dan Brown even caught wind of it, sending Hanson an autographed copy to replace Dalibor's. She bonded out in less than an hour and $180 in fines and court costs were paid that same day. Instead, she was booked and had her mugshot taken. "I just thought they were taking me to pay the fine." "I didn't know they were arresting me at first," she said. "It was just kind of out of sight, out of mind."īut she certainly didn't expect the two uniformed officers who showed up, one in the front of the house, one in the back. "I didn't mean to on purpose," the 21-year-old server and bartender said. Unlike Henson, Dalibor said she got all the notices sent first by the library and then by the town but "kind of blew it off." She was cuffed by police in front of her mother's home in August 2008 for failing to return "White Oleander" and "Angels and Demons." "In essence by not returning a book it's a theft of public property."įormer Grafton resident Heidi Dalibor still has the two library books that landed her in jail. "Similar to what many communities across the country are facing are dwindling resources resulting in reduced funds to successfully maintain our inventory of books by residents not respecting one of the library's most valuable assets," he said. Henson checked it out in 2004, left it with a friend to watch and forgot about it. The offending DVD? "House of the Flying Daggers," a 2004 Chinese film valued at around $31.45 by the Littleton-Bemis Public Library - just a little higher than the city's $30 threshold for getting the legal system involved. Narde said they don't buy that Henson never knew they were looking for the DVD, noting that they left two cell phone messages and that their notices didn't get returned by the postal service meaning someone had to have picked them up at his old address. but when somebody's not informed of a court date and then they're getting arrested on the side of the road, getting embarrassed, having fear and all that, it just doesn't sit well with me," Henson said. "I understand the city was following its procedure. The town claimed it sent numerous bills, notices, a summons and a notice of a court date, but they apparently were all sent to a previous address and Henson saw none of them. The warrant Henson was brought in on in January was actually for failure to appear. "And 80 of them were resolved without a problem." They issued 81 summonses for failure to return library materials, she said. Mary Westbrook, one of the children's librarians on duty that day, claimed that she and other staff members had long advocated for the change in the fine-free policy because it would encourage customers who couldn't pay the fines to return their books, even if they were a little late, and keep using the library's resources.City spokeswoman Kelli Narde said Littleton lost $7,800 in lost library materials in 2009, including Henson's DVD. The receipt showing that the library book was overdue for 30 years. (Free Library of Philadelphia)Īccording to a report on the official website of Billy Penn, She wasn't penalised for her good deed because the Free Library had abolished late fees in fact, she left with a renewed library card so she could borrow more books in the future. ![]() Alexis Azeff reveals that she was organising her childhood home in Berks County when she discovered a stack of books she had borrowed from the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1992. But the most interesting part is that these books have been returned a whopping 30 years after their due date. While at it, she discovered a stack of books that she later submitted to a Philadelphia library. A woman recently lost her mother and went back to organise her childhood home in Pennsylvania. ![]()
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