Students and overdue books in a medical library

By I. A. Alao, B.L.S., M.L.S.

iaalao45@yahoo.com
Medical Librarian

University of Ilorin
P.M.B. 1515
Ilorin, Kwara State
Nigeria

At the University of Ilorin Medical Library, sixty-one randomly selected

medical students with overdue books were surveyed using a
questionnaire with a view to (1) finding out why they had not returned
the library books in their possession, (2) determining their perceptions
of eight given overdue measures, and (3) seeking suggestions on how
else to reduce overdue books. Most of the overdue books were as a
result of (1) the students not finishing with the books and (2) the
students being forgetful. Providing for renewals was the most favored
overdue measure, while the need for increased multiple copies and
extended loan periods for students were also stressed. Thus, a notice
urging readers to return or renew borrowed library books was
mounted on the issue desk as a reminder to all readers borrowing
books. The library is being automated, which will facilitate timely
generation and sending of overdue notices. More copies of some titles
were purchased, while a copy each of others was transferred to the
reserve collection. The need for an extended loan period will require
further investigation, while the judicious use of other overdue measures
to complement providing for renewals is recommended.

INTRODUCTION Yet, the incidence of overdue books, particularly

Established in 1979, the University of Ilorin Medical
Library now has 13,030 monograph volumes, 1,600
bound volumes of periodicals, and 268 current peri-
odical subscriptions. As of February 2001, the library
had 552 registered readers, comprising 355 students
studying for the bachelor of medicine and bachelor of
surgery (MBBS), equivalent to the U.S. medical doctor
(M.D.) degree; 13 masters degree students in com-
munity health (MCH); and 184 teaching and senior
nonteaching staff. Of the 355 MBBS students, 235
(66.2%) were males and 120 (33.8%) were females.
Eight (61.5%) of the MCH students were males, while
five (38.5%) were females. The number of registered
male and female staff stood at 160 (87%) and 24
(13.0%), respectively.
As in most libraries, several measures for handling
overdue materials have been put in place. These mea-
sures include providing for renewals, placing materials
in the reserve book collection, charging overdue fines,
sending overdue notices to defaulters, refusing them
further loans, publishing their names on the Library
Notice Board, and, if students, reporting them in writ-
ing to their deans.
among students, is still a problem. For instance, of the
430 overdue books recorded by the library as of Jan-
uary 2001, 260 (60.5%) were owed by students. This
situation not only denied other readers access to need-
ed library books, but also raised the following three
questions for investigation.
1. Why do students keep borrowed library books
overdue in the first place?
2. How do they perceive the eight given measures
against library overdue books?
3. What, if any, other steps would the students like the
library to take to reduce overdue books?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Concern about library overdue books is not new. Back
in 1976, for instance, Souter [1] investigated the inci-
dence of reader delinquency in British university li-
braries and noted among other things that getting
students to return books as due was a problem. The
Ilesa study in 1991 [2] also showed that withholding
of borrowed library books beyond due dates, though
ranking third, was a baffling practice among students.
In 1997, Shontz [3], on the other hand, studied the

294 J Med Libr Assoc 90(3) July 2002


effects of fines on overdue books in a medical library
with the results indicating that many other factors be-
sides finessuch as convenience of renewal and re-
turns, conscientiousness, and time when the user has
finished with the itemsdetermine when users return
library materials.
Contrary to Shontzs finding, the introduction of fi-
nes at the Norwegian School of Economics and Busi-
ness Administration was said to have reduced overdue
library books in the institution [4], just as publication
of defaulters names in local newspapers had proved
useful to an Iowa public library [5].
More importantly, Ahiakwo and Obokoh [6] inves-
tigated the incidence of faculty overdue books in a Ni-
gerian university library and found that forgetfulness
and the tendency to personalize library materials were
two primary reasons for keeping library materials
overdue. They therefore recommended stiff fines
against the tendency to personalize library materials
and intensification of efforts to break forgetfulness.
METHODOLOGY
Questions relating to the issues identified during the
literature review were drawn up and pretested on ten
MBBS students with overdue books. The ten students
were later excluded from the study. Following the stu-
dents responses, the questions were reworded to pro-
duce the questionnaire in the appendix. This question-
naire was used for data collection.
To identify the overdue books for the study, the li-
brarys issue record (consisting of slips) was searched
for students overdue books, taking only one (the one
most overdue) for each of the two students with two
overdue books. From the 250 overdue slips in the re-
cord, 120 were randomly selected for investigation. Us-
ing the information on the 120 slips, sections five and
six of the questionnaires were completed.
The partially completed questionnaires were then
addressed and dropped in the students mail boxes in
the Faculty Office with a cover note requesting the re-
spondents return the fully completed questionnaire to
any library staff member within a week, after which
the returns were analyzed.
RESULTS
Of the 120 questionnaires sent out, sixty-one, all of
which were usable, were returned, giving a return rate
of 50.8%.
Profile of the overdue books
All sixty-one overdue books were owed by MBBS stu-
dents, of which twenty-eight (45.9%) were in the 600
course level (the last of the 6-year MBBS program of-
fered by the University of Ilorin), twenty-three (37.7%)
J Med Libr Assoc 90(3) July 2002
Students and overdue books
Table 1
Reasons given for not returning borrowed library books as due
Number of
Reasons Respondents
Not finished with the book or books 34
Forgetfulness 13
Time-consuming return and renewal procedures 7
Due date fell on Sunday 3
Urge to hold on to the book or books 1
Not in university on due date 1
Indisposed (ill) on due date 1
Non-Academic Staff Union* (NASU) strike 1
* Trade union to which the loan desk assistants belong.
in the 500 level, nine (14.8%) in the 400 level, and only
one (1.6%) in the 200 level. The males, who constituted
the majority of the registered readers, had fifty-seven
books (93.4%), while the females had four (6.6%). Fif-
ty-six (91.8%) were, as expected, borrowed using cur-
rent library cards, while, surprisingly, five (8.2%) were
checked out using expired cards.
Books on internal medicine (Library of Congress
class RC) with twenty-two overdue books topped the
list, followed by books on pediatrics (class RJ) with
sixteen overdue books; surgery (class RD) and gyne-
cology/obstetrics (class RG) with six overdue books
each; medicine, general (class R), and pharmacology
(class RM) with two overdue books each; and phar-
macy/material medical (class RS) with one.
The number of days by which books were kept over-
due ranged from one to thirty-nine with a mean of
four days.
As expected, books were borrowed for various pur-
poses. Those borrowed for projects or assignments to-
taled thirty-two (52.3%) in the majority, followed by
ones borrowed for exam preparations numbering fif-
teen (24.6%), those for supplementary reading num-
bering ten (16.4%), and those for seminars totaling
four (6.6%).
Causes of overdue books
Table 1 gives the breakdown of the overdue books by
the reasons given by the responding defaulters. From
the table, most students clearly held on to library
books, because they had not finished with them. For-
getfulness, cumbersome return and renewal proce-
dures, and the fact that the books were due on Sun-
days were three other most frequently cited reasons.
Of the thirty-four who had not finished with the
books, twenty-seven (79.4%) did not renew for fear
that other readers might have requested the books,
while seven (20.6%) complained about the librarys
time-consuming return and renewal procedures. All
thirteen defaulters giving forgetfulness as an excuse
claimed not to have received any overdue notices from
the library prior to the study.
295
Alao
Table 2
Students perceptions of eight given overdue measures
Students perceptions
Helpful Unhelpful
and
Measures welcome detested of value
Providing for renewals 60
Sending overdue notices to defaulters 54
Charging overdue fines 30
Taking court action 30
Publishing defaulters names 22
Reporting to heads of departments or deans 11
Refusing further loans 8 42
Withholding certificates 7 44
Perceptions of overdue measures
As show in Table 2, students were most favorably dis-
posed to providing for renewals as a means of dis-
couraging overdue books, followed by sending over-
due notices to defaulters, charging overdue fines or
taking court action, publishing the defaulters names
on the Library Notice Board, reporting them in writing
to their heads of departments and deans, refusing
them further loans, and withholding of the defaulters
certificates on graduation.
Further suggestions
In addition to the eight measures, twenty-two (36.1%)
students made further suggestions on how to reduce
overdue books. Of these, twenty-one (95.5%) wanted
an upward review of the present two-week loan pe-
riod, with seven (33.3%) suggesting four weeks, while
fourteen made no specific suggestions. The remaining
respondent (4.5%) urged the library to procure more
copies of the titles in high demand.
DISCUSSION
The fairly high incidence of overdue books in internal
medicine (class RC) and pediatrics (class RJ) suggested
a need to purchase additional copies of the books in
question or the need to put any duplicates of the books
on reserve, all of which were indeed done after a fol-
low-up evaluation of the book collection in the two
areas.
That most overdue books were a result of the stu-
dents not finishing with the books corroborated the
finding of the previous study carried out by Shontz
[7], in which when the user has finished with the
items was one of the major determinants of when
users return library materials. Similarly, the large
number of cases of overdue books arising from for-
getfulness corroborates the previous finding by Ahiak-
wo and Obokoh [8]. The corroboration with the Ahiak-
wo and Obokohs study was, however, striking, given
the fact that the Ahiakwo and Obokohs study was
296
concerned with facultys rather than students overdue
books.
Very few people, if any, like sanctions such as levy-
ing overdue fines and refusing defaulters further
and Not sure
loans. Therefore, it was not surprising that the stu-
dents were more favorably disposed to preventive
overdue measure such as providing for renewals.
0 1
1 6
There is, however, a need to complement preventive
18 13 with punitive measures in some cases.
18 3 The library is open on Sundays from 5:00 P.M. to
31 8
45 5 10:00 P.M., and this information is given in the Library
11 Opening Hours posted at the entrance as well as in the
10 Students Handbook. Hence, it was surprising that any
students would fail to return borrowed library books,
because they were due on Sundays. Nevertheless, the
provision of bookdrops in front of the library should
make returning of books on such days and during any
industrial strikes more convenient.
Presently, the library offers a two-week loan period
for students. This period was originally born out of
the need to ensure that books went round in the face
of increasing student enrollments. The two-week loan
period is also common in academic libraries, particu-
larly those with poor student-to-book ratios, like the
University of Ilorin Medical Library. Therefore, the
purported need for an upward review requires further
investigation to avoid increasing other readers waiting
times for borrowed books.
On the other hand, more copies of some titles were
bought in response to some students suggestions. But
these were mainly in internal medicine and pediatrics
(classes RC and RJ), where the incidence of overdue
books was fairly high.
CONCLUSION
This study has shown that the incidence of overdue
books in the University of Ilorin Medical Library was
fairly high in internal medicine (class RC) and pedi-
atrics (class RJ). Most of the overdue books investigat-
ed were as a result of the students not finishing with
the books and the students being forgetful. Conse-
quently, additional copies of some titles in classes RC
and RJ were purchased and added to the circulation
collection, while a copy each of others was transferred
to the reserve collection after a follow-up evaluative
study of the collection in the two subject areas.
The librarys housekeeping tasks, including circula-
tion processing, are being automated. When complet-
ed, its overdue books notice, return, and renewal pro-
cedures should be less cumbersome, thereby reducing
the cases of overdue books arising from forgetfulness
and return and renewal procedures that are discour-
aging.
A notice urging readers to return or renew bor-
rowed library books has been mounted on the issue
desk, in the hope that the notice would remind pro-
J Med Libr Assoc 90(3) July 2002
 Students and overdue books

spective borrowers of the best action when library
books are needed past their due date.
The trend toward reader-friendly library procedures
is laudable. Nevertheless, judicious use of other over-
due measures to complement providing for renewals
is necessary in academic libraries, where the need to
provide access to the often-limited copies of some re-
sources usually becomes pressing.
REFERENCES
1. SOUTER GH. Delinquent readers: a study of the problem
in university libraries J Libr 1976;8(2):99.
2. OKOTORE K. Misuse of library materials at Oyo State Col-
lege of Education Library, Ilesa. Nigerian Library and Infor-
mation Science Review 1991;9(1):14.
3. SHONTZ DE. Effect of fines on the length of checkout and
overdues in a medical library. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1999 Jan;
87(1):824.
4. SETERAS I. Fines for overdue books at the library of the
Norwegian School of Economics and Administration: expe-
rience after the first year. Synopsis 1997;28(5):2924.
5. HOFFMAN R. Radical overdue technique. Unabashed Li-
brarian 1996;100:3.
6. AHIAKWO ON, OBOKOH NP. Attitudinal dimension in li-
brary overdue books among faculty memberscase study.
Libr Inform Sci Res 1987;(4):293304.
7. SHONTZ, op. cit., 824.
8. AHIAKWO, op. cit., 293304.
Received June 2001; accepted February 2001

APPENDIX
Survey questionnaires on overdue library books (students only)
1. Respondents status:
[ ] Bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery (MBBS) student
[ ] Masters of community health (MCH) student
2. Course level:
3. Sex:
[ ] male
[ ] female
4. Status of library ticket:
[ ] Current
[ ] Expired
5. For which of the following did you borrow the librarys (book title)* by (book author)* with the location mark
(location mark)* and accession number (accession number)*.
[ ] Supplementary reading (i.e., follow up-to-lecture reading)
[ ] Exam preparation
[ ] Seminar
[ ] Project or assignment
[ ] Posting
[ ] Other (specified):
6. Why are you still keeping the book in question 5, which should have been returned to the library on (due date)*?
[ ] Forgetfulness
[ ] Urge to keep it for more days
[ ] Not finished with the book
[ ] Discouraging, cumbersome return and renewal procedure
[ ] Other reason(s)
7. How do your feel about the following measures against overdue books?
Helpful and Not helpful Not sure
S/N Measure welcome and detested of value
(i) Sending overdue notice to defaulters
(ii) Allowing for renewals
(iii) Charging overdue fines
(iv) Refusing further loans
(v) Publishing defaulters names on Faculty or Library
Notice Board
(vi) Reporting defaulters to heads of department or
deans
(vii) Withholding certificates on graduation
(viii) Taking extreme cases to court
8. Give other steps you may wish the library to take in order to reduce overdue books:
* Sections completed by the researcher using the relevant loan slips.

J Med Libr Assoc 90(3) July 2002 297