Librarians and debt collectors: together at last?

I love libraries, but every time I go to one, this nightmare plays out in my head, instilled there by–well-meaning, I am sure–librarians and, actually, my parents. It involves finding a long-overdue library book under my bed and returning it, only to find out I owe the ten-year-old equivalent of a million dollars.

A commentary piece I just heard on Minnesota Public Radio (I can’t find a link just yet) dredged up my old fear. Apparently, librarians across the country have started turning those nickel-and-dime late fees over to debt collectors, exposing delinquent borrowers to debt collection harassment and negative credit histories.

This story tugs me in two directions, as I am such a book lover I never wrote in any of my law school text books due to my guilt from having defaced one of my books with a note in pencil during my freshman year of college. I never dog-ear pages except in the cheapest and most already-worn books, and I regard libraries as a sacred public trust.

So I rather feel like overly-delinquent book borrowers (and book-defacers, as well) ought to be stretched on the rack for a few hours to make them think twice before appropriating public property again. The rack, maybe, but I don’t think they deserve to be harassed by debt collectors. That’s just too cruel.