Abstract
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
Established in 1979, the University of Ilorin Medical Library now has 13,030 monograph volumes, 1,600 bound volumes of periodicals, and 268 current periodical 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 master's degree students in community 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 measures 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 writing to their deans.
Yet, the incidence of overdue books, particularly among students, is still a problem. For instance, of the 430 overdue books recorded by the library as of January 2001, 260 (60.5%) were owed by students. This situation not only denied other readers access to needed library books, but also raised the following three questions for investigation.
Why do students keep borrowed library books overdue in the first place?
How do they perceive the eight given measures against library overdue books?
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 incidence of reader delinquency in British university libraries 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 effects of fines on overdue books in a medical library with the results indicating that many other factors besides fines—such as convenience of renewal and returns, conscientiousness, and time when the user has finished with the items—determine when users return library materials.
Contrary to Shontz's finding, the introduction of fines at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business 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] investigated the incidence of faculty overdue books in a Nigerian 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 students' responses, the questions were reworded to produce the questionnaire in the appendix. This questionnaire was used for data collection.
To identify the overdue books for the study, the library's 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 record, 120 were randomly selected for investigation. Using 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 respondents 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 students, of which twenty-eight (45.9%) were in the 600 course level (the last of the 6-year MBBS program offered by the University of Ilorin), twenty-three (37.7%) 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%). Fifty-six (91.8%) were, as expected, borrowed using current 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 gynecology/obstetrics (class RG) with six overdue books each; medicine, general (class R), and pharmacology (class RM) with two overdue books each; and pharmacy/material medical (class RS) with one.
The number of days by which books were kept overdue ranged from one to thirty-nine with a mean of four days.
As expected, books were borrowed for various purposes. Those borrowed for projects or assignments totaled thirty-two (52.3%) in the majority, followed by ones borrowed for exam preparations numbering fifteen (24.6%), those for supplementary reading numbering 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. Forgetfulness, cumbersome return and renewal procedures, and the fact that the books were due on Sundays were three other most frequently cited reasons.
Table 1 Reasons given for not returning borrowed library books as due
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 library's 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.
Perceptions of overdue measures
As show in Table 2, students were most favorably disposed to providing for renewals as a means of discouraging overdue books, followed by sending overdue 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.
Table 2 Students' perceptions of eight given overdue measures
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 period, 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 follow-up evaluation of the book collection in the two areas.
That most overdue books were a result of the students 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 forgetfulness corroborates the previous finding by Ahiakwo and Obokoh [8]. The corroboration with the Ahiakwo and Obokoh's study was, however, striking, given the fact that the Ahiakwo and Obokoh's study was concerned with faculty's rather than students' overdue books.
Very few people, if any, like sanctions such as levying overdue fines and refusing defaulters further loans. Therefore, it was not surprising that the students were more favorably disposed to preventive overdue measure such as providing for renewals. There is, however, a need to complement preventive with punitive measures in some cases.
The library is open on Sundays from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and this information is given in the Library Opening Hours posted at the entrance as well as in the 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, particularly 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 pediatrics (class RJ). Most of the overdue books investigated were as a result of the students not finishing with the books and the students being forgetful. Consequently, 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 library's housekeeping tasks, including circulation processing, are being automated. When completed, its overdue books notice, return, and renewal procedures should be less cumbersome, thereby reducing the cases of overdue books arising from forgetfulness and return and renewal procedures that are discouraging.
A notice urging readers to return or renew borrowed library books has been mounted on the issue desk, in the hope that the notice would remind prospective 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 overdue measures to complement providing for renewals is necessary in academic libraries, where the need to provide access to the often-limited copies of some resources usually becomes pressing.
APPENDIX Survey questionnaires on overdue library books (students only)
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