Thursday, October 28, 2010

Fayetteville Public Library's Bankruptcy Policy

(Like the appearance of the Mayor!)

Link to nwa.com article, "Fayetteville Public Library Board Puts Bankruptcy Policy in Place".

Excerpt: Over the past three years, library fees have been listed in nearly 60 bankruptcy filings by library patrons.

"This issue has come up, and so we're trying to be proactive with this as something we'll deal with in our economic times," said Communications Manager for the Fayetteville Public Library Sarah Terry.

Now, there's a policy in place for patrons who can't afford their library fees and haven't returned their rentals.

"These belong to the community and so it's important that we get as many of these items back as possible," Terry explained.

Some of those fees have tallied more than $1,200.

"How long would you have to have a book for it to get to that point? I'm thinking like years," Bashlor said.

"I never have a library fee that was more than I could find in my couch cushions. So, that's kind of surprising to me," said another patron Reid Johnson.

"For a large amount for fines like that, there needs to be a stop point before they could get that large," said former librarian Devis Fruchtl
.

[snip]

Under the new policy, patrons who file bankruptcy and list the library as a creditor will not lose their library privileges. But for the following year, their check out rights will be limited. After that year, the restriction will be removed, if the patron remains in good standing.

Nothing in the "Fines and Charges" policy about loss of borrowing privileges if the amount owed reaches a certain level, although the NWA articles mentions a $10 threshold.  Retiring Guy wants to know.... how does someone reach the stratospheric level of $1,200?


Dunkirk (Indiana) Public Library policy.

1 comment:

Queen of Shibas said...

I work at an academic library, but we charge replacement fees of $50 per item after a certain period of time has passed without overdue books being returned. We also charge hundreds for unreturned electronic items such as laptops or e-readers. I think it would take a lot, but it may be possible to reach $1200