If you are one of the nearly 6,000 Door County Library cardholders who owe money for overdue materials, Director Dominic Frandrup would love to see you again. Thanks to generous grants from the United Way of Door County and the Door County Library Foundation, outstanding prior fines by patrons have been largely eliminated. In addition to the fine forgiveness, the Door County Library also announced on Thursday that the Door County Library will be fine-free for most adult items and on all children’s books, movies, audiobooks, video games, and board games. Last week, Kewaunee County libraries in Algoma and Kewaunee made a similar announcement, following the lead of the American Library Association, which showed that eliminating fines increased library card sign-up and library use while return rates remained the same. Frandrup hopes that easing that burden will welcome more people back to using the library and its locations around the peninsula.

One exception to the Door County Library’s move to fine-free is for Items that have others waiting for them. Those will still be subject to a 15-cent-per-day late fine. Frandrup reminds library users to return items promptly and look for the yellow Short Loan stickers to know which items are still subject to fines.