610 Quincy St. Ÿ Rapid City, SD 57701

605-394-4171 Ÿ www.rapidcitylibrary.org

To: RCPL Trustees

From: Bobbie Christensen, Policy Committee Chair

Re: Long-expired Patrons with Fines

Date: January 31, 2005

The Board revised the Fines Forgiving policy on July 8, 2004, to include:

Fines on overdue materials may be forgiven when:

• An inactive patron record has expired for three years or more and that patron record has fines or outstanding materials charged to it.  Fines and charged materials will be removed and the patron record will be removed from the system.  A report of patron records purged will be approved annually by the Board.

The information presented here is in accordance with this policy; upon approval the expired patron records will be purged from the system.

Patrons who expired in 2001: 2039

Approximate fines and materials attached: $35,700

Over 50% of the total fines and materials are owed by only 8% of the expired patrons.

Board discussion as reflected in the minutes of July 8, 2004:

Overdue Materials and Fines Forgiving: Christenson updated the Board on the following recommendations: revision of the dollar amount for collection purposes from $50 to $150; dismissal of fines and overdue materials after three years; and add an additional email notice at 1 day overdue and change the remaining print notice to a second email. The question of the impact of accurate information and ability to recover materials’ records for three years or longer was discussed. It was determined accurate records in the database was a priority compared to the probability of recovering long overdue materials.

Abrahamson moved, Clark seconded the approval of the Overdue Materials and Fines Forgiving Policy. Motion carried.