Starting on Aug. 24, 2022, Wichita Public Libraries removed all late fees for all patrons.
Any standing late fees have been waived. Late payments will no longer accrue on your account. If your account was blocked beforehand, it should be unblocked unless you have other fees on your account over $10.
From Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, 2022, Amnesty Week is occurring. The library invites any patrons with overdue books and materials to return them. Late fees for these materials will not be applied.
Late fees have been shown not to affect whether or not a book is returned on time. So, to keep access to knowledge with barriers, the libraries sought to remove them. After the 2023 budget proposal for Wichita was approved, this was made possible.
However, there are still fees for books or materials never returned. If you keep material for more than 30-days after the due date, you will be charged the cost of the material and a $7 processing fee. If it is an interlibrary loan item, the processing fee goes up to $25
The library will strongly encourage patrons to turn in interlibrary loan items on time so that the library can continue the service. For ordinary books, the library will keep an eye on things with many holds, which the library can’t fulfill due to it not being turned in on time. The library will buy additional copies to alleviate this problem if a specific material is highly requested.
