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NewsFriday, August 29, 2008 5:03 PM CDT
Library offers amnesty, will turn over to collections Oct. 1
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BLOOMINGTON -- For those who checked out a book from the Bloomington Public Library and never bothered to return it, now is the time to find it and return it.

Overdue book fines will be forgiven by the library throughout the month of September.

But come October 1, if the library still does not have its overdue or lost material the account will be turned over to a collection agency.

Roughly five percent of the library’s collection is overdue or assumed lost, said library spokeswoman Rhonda Massie. That’s about 13,000 pieces of material such as books, DVDs and CDs.

“We just want our overdue materials back,” Massie said. “We are here to be a resource to the community and if those materials are not returned then others don’t have the opportunity to use them.”

There are no limits on the amount of the library’s materials being returned, Massie said.

“We are encouraging people to come to the circulation desk for returns so they have a receipt but we will take the materials, no questions asked,” she added.

If the materials are lost, library customers will only have to pay the cost to replace the item if the bill is pain for in September. All overdue fines and re-shelving fees will be waived.

The only overdue fees the library cannot waive are for books or materials checked out through interlibrary loans. Those are overdue fees owed to a different library, Massie said.

Customers who go to collection will not only be charged a replacement cost, overdue fines and re-shelving fees, but a $10 charge will be added to each bill to cover the library’s cost to hire the collection agency, Unique Management Services.

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Reader comments on this story - 4 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Wat Tyler wrote on Aug 30, 2008 3:54 PM:

" The library shut down for a couple of days and checked every book, CD, and DVD on their shelves, verifying what they have and what they are missing. No doubt there will still be some mistakes, but I doubt that the 13,000 missing items are all mistakes. Danser doesn't give the library credit, but he did say that everytime he has disputed their claim that he has an overdue book, they checked the shelves. I dojn't think that policy is changing. in the last couple of years thieves have made off with lots of material, someone has been cutting recipes out of cook books and the library had to take CDs off the shelves and put them in tamper proof packageing because someone was stealing them. I am all for the library protecting their property. "

isabelle wrote on Aug 30, 2008 12:56 PM:

" Hey, at least they're giving everyone a month to figure it all out before it goes to collections. I think it's great. "

crafty hamm wrote on Aug 30, 2008 7:44 AM:

" Will a library employee please explain the re-shelving fee? "

Danser61701 wrote on Aug 29, 2008 7:29 PM:

" I'm sorry, but that is WRONG! Since I have moved here, several times I have had a missing book on my account. I check online. I call, they look and well what do you know, it's on the shelf, sometimes in the wrong place. So now those who don't call to check on a book that the Library claims has not been returned will charge the fine or turn it over to collection? Because people on the library staff are making mistakes! What is going on in this place? "

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