No more late fees for library members

PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) - New library policies were approved by the Pflugerville City Council on Tuesday.

The new policies eliminate overdue book fines, change of length of checkout time to two weeks and allow for up to 20 checked out items at any time.

“The new policies are entirely customer-driven as we want everyone to think 'Yes, let's go to the library today, they've got books, programs, computers and it's such a pleasant place to hang out!'” library director Lisa Charbonnet said.

The library board and staff have worked on updating the policies for the last several months. The first change to the policy is that the overdue fines are now gone.

"Nobody wants to argue over 50 cent fines, so we are becoming one of the few, very innovative libraries in Texas to eliminate overdue fines," Charbonnet said.

The library is still responsible for the collection of the community’s items which are checked out. Accounts will continue to be blocked if items are not returned.

Damaged items that can be repaired will be charged $5 and lost or destroyed-beyond-repair items will have a charged of the retail price of $10 and up.

The new two-week checkout time helps to increase circulations by reducing wait time for items that are currently out of the library.

Members are allowed to renew their items twice if they are not already reserved.

"The goal is to provide people with the materials they want as soon as possible, and shifting lending terms from three to two weeks allows for more frequent turnarounds," Charbonnet said.

The library is supported by the taxpayers of Pflugerville but people outside the Pflugerville Independent School District boundaries can purchase a library membership card for $25 a year.

In addition, postage is now covered on interlibrary loans up to $5.

“I’m just delighted that the new policies have been approved by the Library Board and City Council!” Charbonnet said. “Come visit the Pflugerville Community Library and see what’s new!”