If you have lost a Library book or other Library item, or think you may have lost it, it’s important to tell us as soon as possible. From the start of term we are introducing significant changes to our billing procedures for lost items, and it is important that you are aware of these.
The first change is the withdrawal of the option to provide replacements for lost items. This practice has developed over time, but can cause problems with incorrect items being provided, the condition of replacements being provided, and the time it takes for replacement items to be provided and then processed by Library staff, ultimately leading to further delays for other borrowers.
The second change is the introduction of billing the actual replacement cost, rather than the average cost which has previously been used. This was set at £40 (£20 for DVDs) a long time ago, and can no longer be seen as an accurate reflection of the collection. It therefore seems more fair and transparent to bill the actual cost of the replacement, purchased from standard suppliers, and that’s what we will be doing.
As well as items which are actually lost, the Library System marks items which have been overdue for 28 days (or 14 days for shorter loan period item) as Assumed Lost, and issues a bill for their replacement. In many cases, this bill is enough to trigger action and for the item to be returned, but in many other instances people hold on to items and ignore all notices being sent out.
As a result, our third change is that once final notices have been sent out and bills have been passed on to University Finance, there will be no further opportunity for discussion or return of the items, and bills will be payable.
We hope that these changes will benefit the majority of people using the Library both by enouraging more prompt return of overdue items and also making replacement of lost items faster and more reliable.
