OVERDUE FEES ARE DUE

     Yes, even libraries have to increase their fines occasionally.  And we had to also.
     It's often very easy to overlook bringing a library book (paper or audio), CD or DVD back to the library on time.  But as of January 1, 2013, overdue fines for items such as those increased at PINES libraries around the state.
     Rates vary, of course, by item with the majority of non-equipment fees increasing to either 20 cents or 50 cents per day.  In most cases, the rate of increase was only 10 cents.
     There's one good thing about the increase, however.  The overdue fee for books, which increased on July 1, 2012, from 10 cents to 20 cents per day, remained at that level after January 1, 2013.  Just in case you didn't know.
     "The fee increases of the past six months are the first increases since PINES was introduced in 1999," said PINES Program Director Elizabeth McKinney.  "They are necessary to help fund the replacement costs of unrecoverable items and also to defray the costs of debt recovery agencies now required by most systems."
     A statewide consortium of 285 public libraries and affiliated service outlets in 143 Georgia counties, the Public Information Network for Electronic Services - PINES, for short - offers citizens a shared catalog of approximately 10.4 million items, with a single library card that is welcomed in all member libraries.
     So, if you're still not sure about the overdue fees issue, please talk to one of the circulation counter staff members.  Also, a complete list of PINES participating libraries, as well as a full chart containing overdue fines for all 27 items types and classications is available online at http://pines.georgialibraries.org/pines-2013-finesfees-increases.