Library Amnesty Program Nets Thousands Of Overdue Items
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A two-week amnesty program for returning overdue books and other materials to the Chicago Public Library without a fine has proven to be a big success.
Thursday was the last day of the Chicago Public Library's "Welcome Home" amnesty, during which people could return overdue items without having to pay a penalty.
Library spokesman Patrick Molloy said any overdue items returned—even in library drop-off bins—before libraries open on Friday will be accepted under the amnesty.
"All the items returned will be checked to make sure they're still in good shape, and if they're still things that we would have in our collection, they'll go back on the shelves," Molloy said.
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Only lost items will come at a cost. Molloy said people who are in the library system's records as having overdue books, CDs or DVDs would have to reimburse the library for the the value of the lost item, but not pay any overdue fines.
As of Thursday, some 20,000 items had been returned in the first 13 days of the amnesty.
The longest overdue item was a book someone borrowed in 1987. Molloy said someone took out the book for a school project 29 years ago, and returned it to the Lincoln Park library branch after learning of the amnesty program.
"So we welcomed home that item, but more importantly we welcomed home a patron who hasn't had access to the library since 1987," Molloy said.
The maximum fine for overdue materials is $10. Without that limit, the 25 cents-per-day fine would have added up to more than $2,500 for that patron.
A three-week amnesty program in 2012 resulted in library patrons returning 101,301 overdue items.
