If you’ve been living in fear of the library’s repo men, now’s your chance to make right with Mr. Bookman.
The Brooklyn Public Library is giving scholarly scofflaws until the end of the month to bring overdue books back to the Brooklyn Public Library without paying a fine — but after May 1, the library says it will report accounts that owe more than $25 to a credit agency.
It’s all part of an attempt to get books back so the lender doesn’t have to buy new ones.
“We’re all in a financial crunch right now, so we really want customers to bring back materials,” said library spokeswoman Malika Granville.
The library normally charges 25 cents a day for late books taken out by adults or 10 cents a day for books from the children’s section. Overdue CDs cost a buck-a-day and DVDs are $2. And once your bill tops $15, the library won’t let you borrow anything any more.
But all those penalties will be forgiven for the rest of the month — as long as you bring back what you’ve taken out in good shape.
“We want them to know that we welcome them back with open arms,” said Granville.
Library officials say the amnesty does not apply to damaged materials or incidental charges like lost library cards and bounced checks.
And those that return the overdue materials will have to face the music to clear their names: overdue materials must be returned at the front desk — so don’t try to sneak them into the drop box.
