The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library system, pinched by a tighter budget, will impose higher fees and additional charges beginning Jan 1.

In a statement released Monday, library officials announced the following:

Fees and Other Changes:
• The daily fine for most overdue items -- including books, CDs and Playaways -- will change from 20 cents a day to 25 cents a day. Overdue fines for DVDs will remain $1 per day.
• The maximum allowable amount individuals may carry on their accounts and still check out books or use library computers will change from $10 to $5.
• The number of items an individual can have on hold at any one time will change from 20 to 10.
• The number of Interlibrary Loan requests an individual can make at any one time will change from 10 to 5.
• The fee for a replacement library card will change from $2 to $3.
• The per-page charge for black-and-white printing from library computers will change from 10 cents to 20 cents per page. Color printing will change from $1 per page to 50 cents per page.
• Black-and-white photocopies will change from 15 cents to 20 cents per page.
• The library will now charge a fee for proctoring exams of $30 per test, plus any incidental fees.

Meeting Room Fee Changes
• Nonprofit groups will be charged one-half of the rate charged to for-profit organizations (The new for-profit charges are in line with charges from peer library systems and remain less than the market rate for meeting room space.)
• Library and government agencies will still be able to meet free.
• Groups wishing to reserve meeting space for 2011 should contact the library for complete fees and policies.

The Library’s total budget has been reduced by about $14.7 million (37 percent) from July 2009 to July 2011. To cope with the reductions, the Library has laid off about 180 staff, close four locations, cut service hours by 53 percent, and drastically reduced the amount spent on books and other services.

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