Local News in Brief : Plan Yields Big Returns

A Los Angeles County library pilot project that uses a collection agency to chase borrowers with long-overdue materials has resulted in the return of $42,072 worth of items to the 14 libraries in the project, library officials said Friday.

“We have had great success,” said Mary Miller, principal librarian of the West Covina Regional Library, the largest and busiest of the 91 libraries in the county system.

The 14 libraries in the pilot project, all located in the east San Gabriel Valley, started using the collection agency in September after other efforts to reclaim long-overdue materials proved unsuccessful.

In the six months since, 2,214 library items have been returned from borrowers who received notices from the collection agency, Advanced Collection Systems Inc.-Weldon and Associates, a firm that has worked with other library systems, according to Ann Bradley, a library spokeswoman.

Library officials had not finished compiling overdue fees paid by borrowers after getting the notices.

The library system is paying $50,000 to the collection agency during the project, which ends in May. County officials then will consider expanding it to other libraries, said Michael Garofalo, regional administrator for the 14 libraries.