OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Readers in Oak Ridge won't need to worry about being charged for returning materials late anymore. The library announced that starting July 1, it will no longer charge overdue fees for materials that are returned late.
The library is also going to automatically renew eligible items that have not been returned, as long as the item does not have a hold. People will also still be charged for items that are lost or damaged.
Books, CD books, music CDs, and launchpads will be due back in three weeks. Movies and Wi-Fi hotspots will be due back in a week. If a book or CD is not returned by its due date and nobody else has it on hold, it will automatically be renewed.
Wi-Fi hotspots are not renewable, and launchpads will not renew automatically. Book club sets will also not renew, and neither will interlibrary loan items.
People will be notified through text or email whenever their items automatically renew. Items will be renewed twice for a period of three weeks each. If an item is not returned after it was renewed twice, the person's library card will be blocked from checking out items, including online materials. It will also be barred from using library computers.
People will receive overdue notices a week after the due date, and again two weeks after the date.
After 30 days from the final due date, the library will consider the material to be lost and the patron will be charged the cost of the item as well as a processing fee.
Oak Ridge Public Library will also no longer accept replacement copies for items that are lost or damaged.
They also said the library will have a drive-up book drop located on the access road as people leave the library's parking lot. Because of the new book drop, the library traffic pattern may change. The indoor book drop was moved to the white wall near the copier and bulletin boards.
