Fines Owing and Your Account Status

Frequently asked questions

• What happens if I have fines on my account?
• How will I know if I have fines?
• How can I avoid fines?
• What happens if my account is blocked?
• How do I unblock my account?
• Who do I contact for help?
• More questions?

What happens if I have fines on my account?

• Fines under $5.00 will not affect your account privileges.

  If you have any amount less than $5.00 owing on your account for more than 6 weeks and then incur new charges that increase the balance to $5.00 or more, your account will be blocked. For example, if you have a $0.60 fine that is older than 6 weeks your account will not not be blocked. If, however, you return items late or have items overdue, those fines and accruing charges will cause your account to be blocked if they total $5.00 or more when added to the original $0.60 cents.

• Rules around fine status and payment:

  As stated in the Circulation and Collection Use Policy, the library prevents customers from taking out books or other materials if they have

  • 16 or more items overdue, or
  • more than $30.00 in fines or charges, which includes both unpaid fines on returned materials and fines accruing on items not yet returned, or
  • 11 or more items that you've told us you returned, but we can't find, or
  • Fines or charges greater than $5.00 if any part has been on your account for more than 6 weeks.

How will I know if I have fines?

• If you have fines over $10.00, you are receiving invoices from the library by mail.

• You can also check your account - if there are fines on your account, the home page of your account will display a value beside the label You Owe, as shown below.

  

• When you borrow materials, library staff will notify you during the checkout process that you have fines owing. If you are using the self-checkout process, you are automatically notified when you enter your library card barcode.

How can I avoid fines?

• Renew your items

  To avoid fines, renew items if you require them longer than the due date of the item. This can be done online using the website or by telephone at 416-395-5505, or by calling or coming in to your local branch.

  You can renew items a maximum of 2 times. Items can be renewed on or before the due date; they can also be renewed after the due date unless the total number of items is more than 15, in which case the "more than 15 items overdue" threshold will have been triggered. If you renew items when they are already overdue, overdue fines will be charged to your account. You cannot renew items that other Library customers are waiting for and have placed holds on.

• Return your materials

  Library materials can be returned to ANY library branch or bookmobile stop. Many branches have 24-hour book drops for your convenience.

• Continual Fine Accrual on unreturned materials

  Any unreturned materials that are overdue continue to accrue fines - renewing your items and returning them on time are the most effective ways to avoid fines.

• Fine disputes

  If you feel that fines are appearing in error, please contact your local branch.

What happens if my account is blocked?

Blocked accounts cannot take out library materials or access eBooks through the OverDrive service.

How do I unblock my account?

Return any overdue materials and pay owed fines.

You can visit any Library branch and present your Library card or ID and pay your outstanding fine balance. You can also call your local branch and pay with your credit card.

Who do I contact for help?

Call or visit a branch and speak to staff about your fines owed and your account. The library staff will be both reasonable and fair in resolving fine and account related concerns.

More questions?

Contact Answerline

If your question wasn't answered here, you can contact Answerline with your query. We will respond and will also use the information to help inform and improve the content of this site.