Among Vivienne’s more creative fine-collection innovations is the ‘Back Stacks Orientation’ — a guided personal tour of the restricted archive section that she offers to repeat offenders with particularly large outstanding balances. The back stacks are, by most accounts, a perfectly normal room full of old periodicals and reference materials. And yet the waiting list to receive this orientation currently stretches to six weeks.

Derek M., a 31-year-old who has owed fines on the same three books since February, described the experience as ‘very educational.’ When pressed for details, he stared wistfully into the middle distance and said, ‘She explained the filing system to me. Very thoroughly. I learned a lot.’ He has since signed up for a library card under his mother’s name to get back on the waiting list.