Home → About NC Cardinal → Policies → Fines and Fees Policy
Last Updated 05/16/2023
Member Libraries should follow Local Fines and Fee policies when checking out items except for the following exceptions:
I. Collection fees are not to be paid, waived, or voided except by the assessing library system.
Patrons whose accounts have been referred to a collection agency must settle the account with the assessing library. If a physical trip back to the assessing library is not feasible, local staff will
assist the customer in finding the appropriate contact information needed to settle their account. Fees in this category may be identified by several different bill types:
1. Long Overdue Collection (Fee)
2. Legacy Referral
3. Grocery
4. Migrated OT
Justification: Patron accounts referred to a collection agency are charged a fee that covers the library’s collection agency costs. This fee is important to libraries contracting with such agencies.
II. Lost or Damaged Fees assessed at a library not your own may not be voided or waived.
Patrons who dispute Lost or Damaged items should be referred to the assessing library for resolution of their account. Patrons may pay for a lost or damaged item at any consortium library; however, a courtesy email to the owning library (if different than where fee is paid) is appreciated to allow for replacement of items. This notification should be sent to the Resource Sharing Contact as found in the Knowledge Books.
III. Fines and Fees on DVD’s shared through resource sharing.
It is recommended that staff void or forgive fees assessed to their patrons that do not match the fines/fees policies of their local library system, including Rental Fees.
Justification: Different AV fee & checkout policies throughout the consortium make it difficult to match fees appropriately. As transit times are not counted as part of the checkout period for AV materials, fees assessed while the item is in a patron’s possession are still valid.
Passed by the Governance Committee June 2016