$5.4 million can buy you a posh apartment in an upmarket condominium in District 10.

That is the amount borrowers owed the National Library in unpaid fines and charges for overdue books as at March this year. And this is after the board has written off $3.5 million for the financial year between 2005 and 2006.

In the just-released annual Auditor-General's report on the financial accounts of government ministries and statutory boards, the library board said it had taken "concrete action to recover outstanding book fines and charges" before it wrote off the $3.5 million.

And book borrowers were not the only culprits. Even library staff have not paid fines for their overdue books. According to the 47-page report , 27 library staff members owed over $1,306 in unpaid library fines for more than 5 years.

Books and rare materials have gone missing as well. Nearly 120,000 books in the 23 public libraries were lost or unaccounted for, with 3,500 books missing from the Lee Kong chian Reference Library.

The Auditor General also found that there was no proper clean-up of its past records to show that the books were long lost.

The report said a policy will be "formalised to ensure that collections are accounted for through periodic stocktakes". As for the fines owed by staff members, the library board had informed the Auditor-General's Office that it was "balancing the resources for collection against the benefits of doing so" and would "recover staff fines through payroll."

The board said some items could have been lost in transit during the library's move to temporary locations, and to its present location in Victoria Street.