By Brianna Metsger ’19, Staff Writer

The Vernon & Doris Bishop Library staff made a decision to eliminate fines for overdue items in the library.

In place of fines, once an item becomes overdue the borrower has 30 days after the due date to return the item or face a replacement charge of $50 and a processing fee of $15.

“We want the items back,” Sarah E. Greene, Director of the Bishop Library, said. “Where we start to have issues is when the items don’t come back at all.

Greene said the new circulation policy was developed with the intention of a higher return rate, which will make the library collection more accessible to everyone. The former circulation policy consisted of 25 cent fines every day an item was late to be returned. This system was relatively taxing to library workers and students.

With this new plan, once an item becomes overdue the borrower will receive an email once a week for four weeks. By the end of those four weeks the borrower will face the replacement and processing fees. If the item is returned within the month-long period after the due date, no fee will be charged.

“If you cross over the 30 days, at that point we’re looking at replacing the item so that other people have access to it,” Greene said.

This fee will act as a typical charge on a student’s account and will be issued through the business office. During this time, the item can still be returned to the library and the $50 charge can be dropped from the fee. However, once the fine is sent to the business office, the borrower must pay the $15 processing fee.

Immediately after an item becomes overdue, that borrower’s library account becomes blocked; this is only limited to checking items out of the collection. Students are still able to reserve study rooms and access the library’s online databases.

Greene said it’s very difficult to determine market value.  Some items simply can’t be replaced or an older edition is not available.  The $50 replacement fee was calculated as a middle ground.

“Some things are going to be less and some things are going to be more, but it’ll even out in the end,” Greene said.

Ultimately, these changes were made to ensure the library and its many resources remain accessible to everyone.