The James Prendergast Library no longer charges late fees for overdue materials.
Assistant Library Director Jennifer Champ said the new policy went into effect earlier this year, “That doesn’t mean that you can’t return books. You still need to return your books. But, we’re encouraging people to bring back their books on time and you’re not going to get penalized for that. And, it’s actually made a huge difference for people coming in, bringing materials back, the circulation, all of that. It really does help. So, don’t be scared that maybe you had fines on your account in the past. Come in and talk to us. We want to work that out. We want everybody to be able to use their cards.”
Champ said the Prendergast Library now has automatic renewals for materials, where if something hasn’t been returned it will automatically renew unless someone has a hold placed on the material. She said DVDs will automatically renew twice where books will renew four times. Champ said when it comes to items that are lost or not returned, the user would have the cost of the amount charged to their account.
She added that when it came to implementing the new policy, research and data found that fines don’t necessarily prevent people from not returning materials on time, or at all.
For more information about the Prendergast Library, visit prendergastlibrary.org
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