BARRY Library collected nearly £20,000 in fines for late returned books last year.

The total amount collected in overdue charges on books from January to December was £19,723.

The largest overdue charge was £5 for a book and £10 for a DVD, which is the ceiling for overdue charges in both formats.

In the financial years of 2010-11 and 2011-12 Barry Library collected £20,802.80 and then £21,565.28 in library fines for late returned books.

The total collected for the 2012-13 financial year is not available yet.

In terms of overdue charges for all items returned late, including books, music, talking books and DVD’s, the total amounts taken for the last three financial years were: £30, 652.51 in 2009-10, £26, 345.60 in 2010-11 and £27,467.18 in 2011-12.

The most requested book in 2012 was EL James’s erotic fiction Fifty Shades of Grey, with 90 requests.

The next most popular books were Hilary Mantel’s ‘Bring up the Bodies’ with 78 requests, Jeffrey Archer’s ‘The Sins of the Father’ with 69 requests, Suzanne Collins’ ‘The Hunger Games’ with 64 requests, Lee Child’s ‘A Wanted Man’ with 64 requests and Victoria Hislop’s ‘The Thread’ with 61 requests.

A Vale of Glamorgan Council spokesperson added: "The number of items (books, music, Talking Books, DVDs, etc) withdrawn from Barry Library in 2012 was 6,485, compared with 7,911 items added to stock.

"The stock held in Barry Library is just over 70,000 items and withdrawals/additions normally balance each other out to maintain roughly the same number of items available in the library."