A successful Experiment: No more overdue Fines, effective immediately!
A successful trial year
In December 2025, the University Library (UB) announced that, with the approval of TU Dortmund University Senate, it would temporarily not charge any overdue fines in 2026. Fortunately, while the suspension of finess did influence return behavior, books were not returned significantly later than they were before 2026.
Consequently, the UB proposed to TU Dortmund University Senate that it permanently amend its fee schedule and abolish overdue fines entirely. The Senate approved the proposal on October 8, 2026. Since the publication of the new fee schedule in the Official Notices of TU Dortmund University on October 22, 2026, there have been no more overdue fines.
Even though return behavior has changed only minimally compared to previous years, the suspension of overdue fines has led to more late returns, particularly for reserved books. Should return behavior continue to deteriorate at a later date, Dortmund University Library will not hesitate to reintroduce overdue fines by Senate resolution.
What does this mean for you in practice?
Please handle the elimination of these fines responsibly, continue to be fair, and return your borrowed books on time! The University Library will continue to send you reminder emails if you do not return print books on time. If a book is 40 days overdue, an administrative fee of 25 euros will be charged, and you will generally be required to pay for a replacement copy of the book. However, the previous reminder levels will no longer apply.
Reasons for the elimination
For many years, the use of electronic media has been on the rise, while the borrowing of print media has been steadily declining. By 2025, only 1/6 of all students had borrowed print books at all. The significant administrative burden associated with collecting these fees would have increased even further starting in 2026. For this reason, the library suspended overdue fines on a trial basis this year.