In an effort to encourage students to renew their library books before they are due, Olin Library is instituting a stricter late book policy that will go into effect on Sept. 19.

Students will now be billed weekly for overdue charges, in addition to a lost item charge of 85 dollars if the book is more than 45 days overdue. Upon safely receiving the overdue book, Olin will refund the student 50 of the $85. This leaves the student with a $35 “processing fee” for the late book, in addition to the new weekly late fees.

Across the board, Olin’s Circulation Department believes that promoting the policy will prevent students from holding onto their library books long past their due dates.

“Promoting the policy will get students to renew their books, which is all the library really wants,” said Dianne Kelley of Olin’s Circulation Department. “Then the books don’t have a chance of being lost. As long as you renew the books, you’re not going to have any kind of fines.”

Kelley pointed out that students can easily renew their books online, via email, or over the phone. As she sees it, students hold on to their overdue library books simply because they have no incentive to return them on time.

“Promoting the policy is going to be a really quick fix for the problem,” she said.

As students have learned about the policy, however, they have struggled to see the Circulation Department’s logic.

“I see the intention, but I think that the policy affects people to a disproportionate extent,” said John Baierl ’14. “I have an issue with how absolutely absurd the fine is.”

However, the members of Olin’s Circulation Department agree that the policy is designed to heighten student awareness rather than to penalize them.

“In most cases, students have the books, but bills generate because they do not renew the books on time,” said Head of Circulation at Olin EunJoo Lee. “We are promoting the policy so that they look at their accounts and renew their books before the due date.”