ATLANTA - Borrowers who fail to return public library books in a timely manner can soon expect to pay a few pennies more for their tardiness.
At its annual meeting in May, the PINES Executive Committee voted to increase the overdue fee for books from 10 cents per day to 20 cents per
day, effective July 1, 2012. A statewide consortium of 285 public libraries and affiliated service outlets in 143 Georgia counties, the Public
Information Network for Electronic Services - PINES, for short - offers citizens a shared catalog of approximately 10.4 million items, with a single
library card that is welcomed in all member libraries.

The July fine increase will affect books in the collections of all PINES member libraries, including those of the Moultrie Colquitt County Library system
 which includes the headquarters library in Moultrie and  the Doerun branch. Similar fee increases for overdue magazines, audio books,
 compact discs and other items are currently underreview by PINES subcommittees and could be implemented in the coming months.

"Overdue fees have never increased since PINES was introduced in 1999," said PINES Program Director Elizabeth McKinney. "More and more, however,
 public libraries are being forced to use debt recovery agencies, and this fine increase for books is necessary to defray the cost of that service in
addition to helping fund the replacement costs of unrecoverable items."

For additional information about PINES or for a complete list of PINES participating libraries, visit www.georgialibraries.org/public/pines.php.