A German professor lost her appeal on Wednesday and must pay the €2,250 ($2,545) she racked up in late fees to her university's library. An administrative court in Dusseldorf rejected lecturer Gina Kästele's arguments that the fines were disproportionately large and a hindrance to academic freedom.

Kästele's lawyer had also argued that as his client had been on holiday, she did not receive the late notices. But the presiding judge was unimpressed, saying that such fines were needed to make sure books were returned on time and thus available to others who might need them.

The 50 books in question were borrowed by Kästele, a psychology professor, during the summer semester of 2015 at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in the city of Krefeld. They were due to be returned in July of that year but did not make their way back to the library until September of the same year.

The library's late fee policy stipulates €2 per book per day for the first few days, which then increases to €5 and eventually to €20 after 30 days. On top of the late fees, the library applied administrative fees of €25 per book for the long delay.

The case highlights several of the major problems facing Germany academia, such as the lack of digitalization and the pressure on professors to regularly publish in journals under restrictive budgetary conditions.

es/msh (AFP, dpa)

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