What it means for you:
- You will no longer be charged a daily fine for overdue items. As always, digital materials are checked in automatically with no late fines.
- We will clear any late fines you currently owe from your account. You may still owe other Library fees, including lost item charges.
- You can still renew most items up to two times if no one else is waiting.
- You are still responsible for returning your items on time. We do want all items back, and other people may be waiting. We will temporarily suspend your Library account if items are not returned within a week or so after their due dates. When your account is suspended you cannot check out physical materials like books or DVDs or access some of our digital services until your overdue items are returned.
- We consider items overdue by two months or more to be lost, and will bill you for the replacement cost.
- Once you return an overdue item or pay for its replacement cost, your account will be reinstated and no fines will be charged.
- To help you remember to return items on time, we send reminders by email, text and phone. You can manage your message settings by logging into your Valnet account, or ask library staff for assistance.
Why get rid of late fines?
Late fines are not effective. Other library systems have stopped charging late fines and shown that this has no impact on return rates. Getting rid of late fines can even increase use of library materials.
It’s good for our community. Late fines prevent people who cannot afford them from using the library in the first place.
Fines are not predictable revenue. With more people using digital materials like e-books, we can no longer count on late fines to help cover costs.
