Just Fine

Few horrors grip the student so much as the discovery of a reserve book in his room at noon. Once trapped with an eight dollar fine, he is apt to think of all librarians as dusty financiers practicing free enterprise at his expense. Though a few defects and injustices have beset Lamont's heavy fine system in the past, only some penalty could prevent students from hoarding scarce books. Furthermore, a fund was necessary to replace those copies which have somehow disappeared during the year. A revised schedule of fines, to be tried this spring, will do much to improve the old system without impairing its ability to bring home the Bacon or the Carlyle.

The old system, which charged fifty cents per hour for the first, day did not distinguish between students who were ten minutes late, and those who barely slipped in under the hour deadline. Offering a more finely graduated scale, Lamont's new plan will be fairer to the casual offender without taking the sting out of fines. The library, by charging twenty-five cents each tardy half hour, will provide the conscientious student with an opportunity to save and will no longer penalize him so much as his sleepier companions.

Though these changes should do much to improve the fine system, one loophole remains in the Lamont laws. Because of the rate at which fines mount up, it is often cheaper to report a book lost and pay only for its replacement value. Accumulated fines can easily exceed the price of a new volume and by yielding to temptation, students will gain a book for their money.

Lamont could prevent much of this practice by charging twice the replacement value for each missing book. But because a double charge would penalize unfairly those students who have actually lost a volume, it should be modified. Any student reporting a book missing within two days after the book is due should pay only the replacement value. Such a plan would prevent most abuses and achieve the only real purpose of library fines--getting books back into circulation.