Imperial collects lowest amount of university library fines
Leeds leads library fine table
Imperial College London are bottom of a league table. Luckily, this is a list of the amount of money raised from library fines. Only £26,703 was collected in fines in the period between the 2005/2006 academic year and now. As all students know, if you don’t pay your fines, you aren’t allowed to use the library. It’s hard to speculate, but maybe the thought of being barred from the library is so unnerving that Imperial students promptly return their books.
On hearing the news, Jason Parmar, Deputy President (Education) stated that Imperial “prides itself on its world class library facilities and learning resources”.
The highest London based university was King's College London in fourth place, who, no doubt, found it confusing to be so high up on a table. In at number one was Leeds, managing to collect £1,869,340 in fines over the course of six academic years. As this is Leeds, the term academic is used lightly. The previous statement could be seen to be unfair; the amount raised could suggest that Leeds’ students love their subjects so much that they can’t bear to give their books back, or that they’re just lazy and forget.
After looking at the table Parmar went on to say: “It’s one of the contributing factors to why we are so much better than UCL and are higher than them in the rankings – lol, PAR”. He refused to comment on the social acceptability of using the word “lol” in conversation.
Deborah Shorley, Director of Library Services, called Imperial’s position at the bottom of the table as a “great victory” and that “it is a very good reflection on the Imperial student”. She stressed that Imperial only imposes fines to make sure the books circulate and that it was not a way of generating money.
Team Leader for User Services Angus Brown added, “We only charge fines on the late return of reserved and high demand books, and otherwise encourage students to renew items they continue to need. It’s incredibly difficult to compare libraries (and universities) across the sector, but I think it’s fair to say we’re quietly pleased to be bottom of this particular league.”
