A fine success for the Library Book Amnesty

SUBSTANTIAL savings were made for students at last week’s Library Fines Amnesty organised by Swansea’s Education Officer.

The amnesty took place over a three day period last week, during which students were able to return overdue books to the university library without incurring a fee.

A total saving of £1179 was made by students as the library saw the return of an astounding 526 books which were overdue or declared lost.

Due to the amount of items returned which had previously been recorded as lost, the library made a remarkable £4270.09 saving on books which would have otherwise needed to be replaced.

Though many students took advantage of the amnesty, one student in particular is very grateful for the event following a fee of £471 being wiped from her library account after returning ten overdue books to the library.

Third year Politics and American Studies student Fern Jeremy told The Waterfront: “The library amnesty was incredible. I genuinely don’t know what I would have done without it – there’s no way I could have paid that amount of money.

“It was terrifying logging onto my library account after Christmas to find that I owed £471. I needed the books for my dissertation but couldn’t renew them due the fines on my account. I couldn’t be more for the amnesty.”

Swansea’s Education Officer told The Waterfront: “The amnesty has saved the Library over four thousand pounds at a time when their budget is tight which means more money can be spent on resources for all students.

“So whether or not you actually saved money by taking an overdue book back yourself, everyone is getting a better deal now because we’ve implemented an idea with the library that has saved £4,270.

“There are 526 more items back in the library to use than if there hadn’t been an amnesty. That’s good news for students who sometimes struggle to get hold of resources they need.”

Fern added: “The amnesty has taken such a weight off my mind and helped me out so much that I hope it can become an annual event to help more students out that may find themselves in a similar situation.”