$3,300 in late fees: Book returned to B.C. library after 23 years

A public library in Richmond, B.C., just received two books in the mail that were decades overdue—a length of time that would have accrued $3,300 in fines.

A Richmond Public Library patron is lucky the organization no longer charges late fees, because their recent return would have come with a hefty fine.

Two books—Teachings of Tibetan Yoga and The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui Neng—were recently returned to RPL 23 years overdue, the library said in a social media post this week.

The books were returned via Canada Post from a borrower in Toronto, who the RPL did not name.

“Proof that it’s never too late to return your library books because RPL is fine-free,” the post reads.

A photo of the inside cover of one of the books shows fines for overdue materials that were in place at the time it was taken out in the early 2000s. At five cents a day for 8,395 days, each of the books would have accumulated $419.75 in late fees.

The RPL said the total owed would have been more than $3,300, though it didn’t explain its calculation.

“Is there a better way to save $3,358?” the post reads, before clarifying that there was actually a $15 maximum in place at the time the books were borrowed.

While 23 years is a long time to wait to return a library book, it’s hardly the longest a B.C. borrower has gone in recent years.

Last year, a former UBC student returned a book to the university’s library 64 years late.

And the Vancouver Public Library had books returned after 51 years in 2022 and after 70 years in 2021.