The library misses you.
To see you again, Vancouver Island Regional Library is offering to forgive the late fees during its Welcome Back Week happening in October.
For one week, the community is being invited to bring back their overdue materials to have all associated fines and costs removed, according to a news release from the regional library.
The library is welcoming everyone, especially those with late fees, to visit its branches between Oct. 23-29 and get back into borrowing again.
“Vancouver Island Regional Library serves a wide variety of customers, including children, youth, seniors and vulnerable populations in our community,” said Jamie Anderson, director of library services and planning. “While overdue fines are a necessary way to ensure materials are available for everybody to use, overdue fines and fees can also have an adverse effect on economically-sensitive members in our community.”
Customers who can’t find their overdue materials or have long-outstanding fines are also welcomed back during Welcome Back Week.
The library will waive up to $20 owing from their account and, for those with fees in excess of $20, can provide a payment plan to help make paying back fines more manageable.
“For those who can’t afford it, having an overdue fine can make the difference between choosing to come back to their library or not, and therefore accessing the wealth of resources and opportunities their library provides,” Anderson said.
“[Vancouver Island Regional Library] is a vital resource for the community as an access point to public computers, job seeking help, printing, tech support, the Internet, and of course, access to a huge collection of materials which promote literacy, learning and enrichment.”
Initiatives like Welcome Back Week are tried and tested programs that bring people back to their local libraries and materials back into circulation, according to the library.
Vancouver Island Regional Library is the fifth-largest library system in British Columbia. It serves more than 430,000 people on Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii and the Central Coast through 39 branch libraries, its eLibrary and a books by mail service.
The regional library system has branches in Ladysmith and Chemainus.
For more information, please visit the website www.virl.bc.ca.