April amnesty at Brooklyn Library

Calling all bookworm hoarders: If you have any borrowed librarybooks, DVDs or CDs that are past due, worry no more about fees thatwill break the bank. April is amnesty month at all branches of theBrooklyn Public Library – that means, no matter how much overduematerial you may have lying around, you can return it to any branchby April 30 and all fees will be waived.

It doesn’t matter how much you owe, you will get a clean slate,said Tammy Jones from the New Utrecht Branch, adding that come May1, overdue fees will be smaller: $1 instead of $2 for DVDs and CDsand 15 cents instead of 25 cents for overdue books.

If you have any borrowed materials hiding on a shelf, the Librarystrongly urges you to return the pieces because, as of May 1,customers owing more than $25 in overdue fees will begin receivingcalls from collection agencies. Also, note that overdue fees willnot be waived for any damaged materials, Interlibrary Loan books orif overdue materials are left in internal or external book drops.In order to get fees waived, they must be returned to the customerservice desk.

Kirann Shah, a 16-year-old student from Dyker Heights, said she hasbooks that are years overdue and will definitely take advantage ofthis opportunity.

The main reason stopping me from returning them was the fee, shesaid. Now I will totally return them.

Jason Carey, director of marketing and communications for theBrooklyn Public Library, explained that they grant this amnesty tokeep their collections as complete as possible.

When a person checks out materials, that piece is in somebodyelse’s hands, he explained. We want to make sure our collectionsstay full and available to other people. It’s basically encouragingpeople to bring them back so others can use it.

Pasqua Guardavaccaro, 21, of Staten Island, said she has about $50worth of overdue books from the Brooklyn Public Library from whenshe was doing her thesis at St. Joseph’s College.

This is going to save me a bunch of money, she said, smiling.

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