Circulation Policy

I. Patron Registration - Library Cards

1. Borrower’s Card: Fond du Lac Public Library will issue a borrower’s library card to any resident of the state of Wisconsin. Proof of current street address is required. Up to 75 items may be checked out at any given time without staff approval.
   • Cards may be mailed to those without proof of a permanent address. Material may be held at the circulation desk for up to 72 hours in order for the cards to be processed through the mail.
2. Limited Card: Limited cards are available for
   • Any adult living in temporary housing who cannot furnish proof of a permanent address, e.g., residents of transitional housing such as Bethany House, Blandine House, etc.
   • Any adult who is temporarily living or working in the area, but whose permanent address is outside of Wisconsin, e.g., business consultants, workers on exchange programs, etc. Proof of permanent address must be given.
   • Any borrower who has recently had a delinquent library account discharged in bankruptcy. The “limited” profile will be changed to “public” when the borrower has established a record of returning items for 18 months.
   Holders of Limited Cards may only have three items checked out at one time.
3. Homebound Library Card: Available to anyone who cannot use the library because of a disability. No fines accrue to those using a homebound card.
4. Business Card: May be issued to any corporate body fulfilling the require-ments outlined below. Business cards may not be issued to churches, governmental agencies, schools, or service organizations. To obtain a business card, an application must be completed and signed by the business chief fi-nancial officer. The company assumes financial responsibility for replacement of lost and/or damaged materials and payment of late fines and/or rental charges.

II. Parental Restrictions

1. It is the responsibility of parents to monitor what their children read, view, and listen to. The library cannot act in loco parentis. However, the library does recognize the difficulty parents face in modern society in monitoring their children. The library will assist parents as far as is feasible. Parental restrictions on the use of the library by their children are limited to those that may reasonably be managed using the library automated circulation system. Parents may restrict minors under the age of 18 in the following:
   • From having a library card
   • From checking out material housed in the adult area
   • From using the Internet
2. Parents may implement any of these restrictions by submitting a signed letter to the library circulation department.
3. The library will send a written confirmation informing a minor’s custodial parent or guardian when a library card is issued to anyone under the age of 13.

III. General Circulation Policies

1. A library card is similar to a charge card. They are non-transferable; friends and family may not share cards.
2. Confirmation of identity may be required in order to use a library card.
3. All items circulate for 21 days and may be renewed for 21 days if not on reserve for someone else. There are two exceptions:
   • Videos (DVDs and VHS) – 7 days
   • Interlibrary Loans – loan periods are set by the lending library; no renewals
4. An overdue fine of 10 cents per item per day will be charged for adult materials. The overdue fine for children’s materials is 5 cents per item per day.
   • The overdue fine for videos (including DVD) in the adult collection is 50 cents per day and 25 cents per day for children’s videos.
   • The overdue charge for Interlibrary Loan material is $1.00 per day per item.
5. The maximum overdue fine is $3.00 per item for children’s materials and $5.00 per item for adult materials.
6. Patrons will be billed for items held 30 days beyond the original due date. A nonrefundable processing fee of $5.00 for adult materials and $3.00 for children’s materials is included in the billed price of an item.
7. Patrons who pay for lost items may receive a refund up to 3 months after the date of billing if the original item is returned in usable condition with the library receipt indicating payment. Processing fees are nonrefundable. A refund for material will only be issued for an item with a refundable value of $5.00 or more.
8. Patrons may replace lost or damaged material with an exact copy in usable condition. The patron will still be charged a processing fee.
9. Patrons owing more than $25 in fees or fines may not borrow additional items.
10. A bill for replacement of items not returned normally includes a standard replacement fee generated by the circulation system. Staff will adjust the standard replacement fee, either up or down, for items that are still available for purchase.
11. The library may use the services of a collection agency to recover the cost of lost or damaged items. No refunds will be available for items returned after the account has been referred to a collection agency.
12. A $15 charge will be added to each customer account referred to a collection agency in an effort to recover the cost of collecting lost books and past due accounts.
13. The Library Director may place limits on the number of items that may be borrowed at any one time from new collections with limited numbers of items available.
14. A lost library card may be replaced for $1.00 for adults and 50 cents for children under the age of 13.
15. Borrower’s cards are renewed on an annual basis. Any outstanding charges must be paid in full before a card is renewed.
16. Loan periods and replacement policies for material obtained through interlibrary loan will follow the guidelines of the lending library.
17. Fond du Lac Public library will provide extended loan periods and/or fine exempt loans to educators for teaching purposes according to guidelines established by consensus of the members of the Winnefox Automated Library System.
18. The number of Winnefox Library System holds plus the number of active ILL requests will be limited to 25 active requests per patron at any given time.

IV. Bookmobile

1. Loan periods for items obtained from the bookmobile will be determined by how often the bookmobile visits a given location.