{"id":162176,"date":"2026-02-12T21:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T21:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/162176\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T21:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T21:40:11","slug":"overdue-book-policy-facility-rental-fees-to-be-updated-at-allen-public-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/162176\/","title":{"rendered":"Overdue book policy, facility rental fees to be updated at Allen Public Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAllen Public Library<\/a> patrons will no longer pay late fees for overdue books.<\/p>\n

Allen<\/a> City Council approved the removal of fines for overdue library materials at a Feb. 10 meeting<\/a>. Council also approved adjusted rates for renting Allen Public Library facilities.<\/p>\n

Zoom in<\/p>\n

In North Texas, at least 37 public libraries have eliminated fines since 2017, city documents<\/a> state. Nationally, the number of public libraries in the U.S. charging overdue fines decreased by 92% from 2017 to 2023.<\/p>\n

Removing library fees encourages library usage, increases the number of books returned and enhances customer service, Library Director Jeff Timbs said.<\/p>\n

Since 2010 when council last reviewed the policy, late fees have been set at:<\/p>\n

25 cents per day per book$1 per day per DVDThe new policy for late materials is an account freeze, meaning patrons cannot check out new items until overdue items are returned, Timbs said.<\/p>\n

This is expected to reduce library revenue by approximately $25,000 annually, according to city documents. Library staff are planning to offset this by establishing fees for use of library facilities and materials, which is expected to generate between $10,000 and $15,000 annually.<\/p>\n

Hourly rates for library facility rentals are as follows:<\/p>\n

Civic Auditorium: $500 (residents), $600 (nonresidents)Meeting rooms A or B: $250 (residents), $300 (nonresidents)Both meeting rooms A and B: $400 (residents), $500 (nonresidents)Kitchenette: $100 (residents), $150 (nonresidents)Board room: $100 (residents), $150 (nonresidents)Also of note<\/p>\n

The Allen Public Library reopened to the public Dec. 8<\/a> following more than a year of renovation and expansion work, according to previous reporting.<\/p>\n

Facility improvements added to the library include expanded areas for book and materials, which created space for the roughly 10,000 new items added to the library\u2019s collection in 2025.<\/p>\n

For more information on the Allen Public Library, visit www.allenlibrary.org<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Allen Public Library patrons will no longer pay late fees for overdue books. Allen City Council approved the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[55589,66370,55590,61765,66371,1604,66369,66372,160,162,161],"class_list":["post-162176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-allen-city-council","tag-allen-library-late-fees","tag-allen-news","tag-allen-public-library","tag-allen-public-library-hours","tag-community-impact","tag-library-renovation-allen","tag-overdue-book-policy-allen","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}