DCPL eliminates overdue fines, late fees

May 9—The Daviess County Public Library announced it is now a "fine-free" establishment, with all overdue fines on existing accounts being wiped clean and no daily late fees to be charged moving forward.

Erin Waller, DCPL director, said the decision was made by the library board in April after having two readings of the then-suggested policy change.

Waller said the suggestion was made by Ryan Henry, the library's collections manager, about three months ago.

"It feels good," Waller said regarding the approval of the policy change. "It puts us in line with a majority of other public libraries in Kentucky, and really what I think is happening all over the country.

"Here in Owensboro, we want to be in line with what everybody else is doing."

Waller said the circulation policies and procedures, which was revised on April 19, includes a couple of items that have been changed, such as extending the check-out period for "a vast majority of items" to 21 days.

Previously, some items such as music and movies, were subject to shorter check-out periods.

According to DCPL's website, the library will automatically renew the item for a patron up to two times if not brought back by its scheduled due date as long as the item is not on hold and is eligible for renewal.

"We wanted to make things as simple and as easy as possible for everybody," she said. "... As long as that item is not on hold for somebody else, an individual can renew that item for another 21-day cycle."

But while the library will no longer charge patrons daily overdue fees, they can be subject to being charged to replace lost, stolen, missing or damaged items.

According to the revised policy, patrons will receive three notices when any item is overdue. The first overdue notice will be sent when an item is one week overdue, a second notice at the two-week mark and a final bill at three weeks overdue.

According to the library's website, an item 21 days overdue is considered lost and the patron will receive a bill for the cost of the item plus the expense of cataloging its replacement.

If a patron returns the original item within 21 days of receiving their bill and the item is in good condition, the charges may be waived.

If the item is 42 days overdue and the patron owes $25 or more, the account will be sent to Unique Management, a collection agency that specializes in library billing.

Unique will take over the recovery of library expenses for a $10 fee. Patrons may still return the original item in good condition to have all fees waived with the exception of the fee.

"We basically just want the item back," Waller said, "and we want to encourage people to bring things back in a timely manner because other people may be wanting that item ...."

Waller said DCPL has used Unique "for years" and said the company only provides billing services for the library.

According to the library's website, Unique will "never report you to credit monitoring services or garnish your wages or government assistance funds."

"It doesn't go on anybody's credit report or anything like that," Waller said. "It's just a way for us to get a third-party to handle that for us."

Patrons who owe $25 or more will not be allowed to check out additional items from the library until previous payment is received.

For more information regarding the new policies and procedures, visit dcplibrary.org/fine-free or contact the library at 270-684-0211.