During the month of February, the Wadsworth Library is having a half-price fine sale.
During that time, anyone who owes fines will only have to pay one-half of the price of the fines due if the articles are returned. The half-price option does not apply to lost or damaged articles. Fines for those items must be paid in full, according to a press release from the library.
Library users who have fines above a certain threshold lose their privileges of checking out items or using the library computers according to Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator Jane Griffing. The threshold is $5 for an individual user and $15 for a family.
Griffing said over one-third of the library's customers have reached the fine threshold and cannot use the library. Griffing said, “We want people to be able to use the library," which is one reason for offering the half-price sale.
"We realized that there were a lot of people in Wadsworth who have library cards but cannot use them because they have unpaid fines above our fine limit,” said Library Director C. Allen Nichols in a press release. “We hope the fine sale will encourage people to pay their fines and return overdue items."
Griffing said the library began "belt tightening" in 2009 by cutting hours and staff. However, voters approved a new five-year levy for the library in November. Griffing said interviews are now underway for five positions in three departments and some of the hours will be returned in the near future.
