# What was your highest library fine? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 3, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-highest-library-fine/324610 "2005-10-03T17:30:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-highest-library-fine/324610/21 "2005-10-05T01:04:37Z")
11 books, 33 days late, $0.05 a day :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-highest-library-fine/324610/22 "2005-10-05T05:11:21Z")
$60 for three books my daughter ruined. She ruined a previous book as well. I’m not taking anymore out until she’s at least five. I buy them at garage sales now. Cheaper that way. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-highest-library-fine/324610/23 "2005-10-05T15:06:47Z")
I paid 36 dollars for a lost book a few years ago. I found it a few weeks later, but I’d lost the receipt by then so I couldn’t get part of my money back (they refund minus the max. late fee of five dollars plus another five dollars for I guess paperwork). I always have a fine. I just found a book this morning I thought I’d returned at least a month ago. Add that to my current late fines and I’m up to almost twenty dollars again! Saddest, most pathetic part is I live directly across the street from the library. I just forget! ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-highest-library-fine/324610/24 "2005-10-05T21:40:55Z")
My (Canadian) university library charges were:[ul] [li]$1 per day per item. [/li][li]Unless it was a “Reserve Room” item where you can only check it out for a few hours. Those fines were $1 per _hour_ (or portion thereof) per item to a max of $31.[/li][li]Lost book charge - $150.[/ul]A friend of mine worked in the library and said people regularly had multi-hundred dollar fines. My personal highest was about $120 (four books a month overdue). I had given them to a friend to return it for me, and they didn’t bother to let me know they didn’t get a chance to drop them off. [/li] :wally \<-- me, for trusting my jackass friend in the first place ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-highest-library-fine/324610/25 "2005-10-05T23:24:10Z")
About 1,000 dollars to 1,500. I know it’s within that range. …and I still haven’t found some of those damn books. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-highest-library-fine/324610/26 "2005-10-06T00:48:03Z")
[QUOTE=Waenara] [li]Unless it was a “Reserve Room” item where you can only check it out for a few hours. Those fines were $1 per _hour_ (or portion thereof) per item to a max of $31.[/li][/QUOTE] We had the same late fees at our university library too, except there was no max, so there were people who ended up paying a couple hundred in late fees on one journal. I got fined $15 because some jackass didn’t bother to check in the journal I took out, and just reshelved it instead. I **still** got fine even though I showed up (we were sent notices the day of the fine) to contest the fact that it had been returned - and showed them the copy was on the shelf. :mad: At public libraries the highest fine I’ve had was either $11 or $8, I forget which. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-highest-library-fine/324610/27 "2005-10-06T00:51:59Z")
I’m a light weight. When I was around 12, I had a 25 cent fine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-highest-library-fine/324610.md?page=1)