Library Fines and Active Users - Find a freedom of information request

1. Currently, how much is your authority owed in unpaid library fines?

2. What is the monetary value of the single biggest library fine currently outstanding, and when was the item’s scheduled return date?

3. What is the name of this item?

4. Currently, how many borrowed items are currently overdue in your library system?

5. How many people are library card holders with your authority?

6. How many people were library card holders 10 years from this date with your authority?

1. £130,688.90

This is the cumulative figure for the past seven years for which financial information is retained. As such this will include fines that were previously LCC's before Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) were commissioned to deliver the library on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council. It is estimated that 35% of the £130,688.90 relates to time under GLL management.

2. Overdue fines for adult members are capped at £8 per item and for junior members they are capped at £2 per item, therefore there is not one single biggest fine for one outstanding item.

3. Lincolnshire County Council are unable to answer this – see above in regard to fine cap.

4.  24,621

5. 138,991 registered borrowers

6. In 2009 information recorded related to 'Active Borrowers', those individuals who were loaning items from Libraries. We do not hold the data that states how many registered borrowers there were in 2009, although this will be much higher than the active borrowers only.

     The number of 'Active Borrowers' for May 2009 stood at 54,808.  The (published) CIPFA 2008/09 Public Library Statistics show Lincolnshire with an active borrower figure for 2008/09 (year ending March 2009) as 119,300.  Again these figures do not illustrate all borrowers for this time period, only those who were issued stock.