You're late! Kent's overdue library books revealed
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EXCLUSIVE
by Thom Morris
tmorris@thekmgroup.co.uk
Bookworms in Ashford are responsible for the most overdue books
in Kent, it was revealed today.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show
between January 2009 and August 2010, 569 books were not returned
to Ashford library - the highest in the county ahead of Ramsgate
with 492.
The most popular tomes to have been swiped off the shelves and
never returned are adult non-fiction titles which include cookery,
knitting and travel books with over 2,000 of them being kept at
home.
The non-fiction losses have cost KCC about £33,000.
Lowest on the choice of library books to go missing are
reference books with just two titles having not been returned and
costing £27.98.
Musical fans have also kept hold of 18 scores costing over £240
while comic book fans have held on to 118 graphic novels worth
£1,140.
Further afield Folkestone library has lost 261 books, Cheriton
has lost 90, Tenterden has lost 53 and Sandgate only four.
Across the county over 7,000 books have never been returned
costing the taxpayer over £72,000.
But despite the £72,466 bill, KCC say there is a "slow but
steady flow" of overdue books being returned to Kent's
libraries.
Since August 618 books have been returned bringing the total
number of missing books in Kent down to 7,274.
A KCC spokesman said: "We are obviously keen to encourage
customers to return borrowed items.
"We do have a
slow but steady flow back of long overdue items over time and so
some items are not lost forever.
"We would encourage anyone who thinks they may have lost their
books to come and speak to one of our staff as soon as
possible."
Kent has close to two million library books, so less than one
per cent of that total have never been returned. Between April 2009
and March 2010 over six million people checked out a book.
No library in Kent has managed to avoid a book going missing
from the shelves.
The most popular month for visitors to swipe their favourite
title was in September 2009 when 1,213 titles were failed to be
returned. February this year was the lowest with only 48 books left
overdue.
Thursday, September 09 2010
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