The Shorewood-Troy Public Library District Board of Trustees has an early holiday gift for patrons this year. Beginning Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, all children’s material checked out from the STPLD Children’s Department can be returned fine free if overdue. This includes books, DVDs, CDs, book kits and other items available exclusively through Children’s.
Although the Shorewood-Troy Library is a member of the Pinnacle Consortium, it is the only library partner that is currently waiving all fines for its children’s materials. Accordingly, to take advantage of this Fine Free program, patrons must check out, renew and return items to Shorewood-Troy Library. The library is not able to waive fees accrued through check outs, renewals or returns to other Pinnacle libraries, nor can it waive the replacement cost if the item is permanently lost.
“More and more often we were hearing parents tell children they could only check out one item per visit because they didn’t want to worry about overdue books and fines,” said Shalyn Rodriguez, Assistant Library Director and Head of Children’s. “However, one of our goals as a library is to increase early literacy by exposure to as many reading materials as possible. We want our families to feel good about checking out lots of books, not stressed about how much in fines they’ll owe if several items are late. We think the benefits for our patrons far outweigh the costs of not collecting those fines.”
In addition, the increasing revenue generated by passport processing will help offset the waived fines, said Library Director Jennie Mills.
“We continue to see a steady rise in the number of passport applications processed, both new and renewals, and we now have more than 10 agents trained to take the applications. We’re pleased to offer this service to area residents and even more pleased at the income it provides,” Mills said.
The Shorewood-Troy Library is open seven days a week with passport applications accepted Monday-Saturday.
Visit shorewoodtroylibrary.org for detailed hours, the full library catalog and to view and register for upcoming programs for patrons of all ages.
