But such magnanimity is becoming the exception, said Runge. So book-hoarders are left to either return their books or face the consequences. Bale said he enlisted his sister and a friend, a student at Marquette University, to take his overdue books back to the library and slip them onto the shelves - just a few slots away from where they're intended to go. Though the Milwaukee Public Library system retrieved 12,700 books in a 1998 amnesty and 16,000 books in a similar 1995 program, city Librarian Kathleen Huston said she has no plans to hold another amnesty any time soon. If people expect them, it becomes self-defeating.
Some libraries cap the fines at the value of the book.
Milwaukee Public Library's coordinator of circulation, Connie Crooks, said she still has faith in amnesties because they allow people to clear up their records and return valuable materials to circulation among the general public. We don't mind the stories. At least they're bringing it back. Kathryne Jacobs, South Milwaukee Public Library's assistant director, said that library hasn't held an amnesty since 1998 and has found the loss of library privileges is usually enough to get people to return overdue materials. If they don't clear up their record, they can't come back.