King County Library System patrons will soon find their accounts cleared of late fees.

A new program, A Fresh Start for All, goes into effect May 4, automatically applying a one-time waiver of late fees to all KCLS users.

Normally, accounts with late fees over $25 are blocked, meaning access to library materials becomes extremely limited. The library system stopped assessing late fees in March 2020, and even allowed blocked accounts to access electronic materials during this time.

Although these late fees are being cleared, library patrons are still expected to return any late items by Sept. 15, 2022, or they will find late fees beginning to accrue in their accounts again.

This new program, passed by the KCLS Board of Trustees on April 27, does not apply to lost fees, which are applied to accounts when materials are more than 30 days overdue.

KCLS will resume assessing lost fees on May 4, though patrons will have until the Sept. 15 deadline to pay those fees or return materials before their account is blocked.

Waiving all these late fees means KCLS could forgo tens of thousands in revenue; according to a library system FAQs webpage, KCLS could have expected to collect upwards if $468,000 in late fees.

The library system is also putting in place a new automatic renewal service on Sept. 15, where KCLS will automatically renew materials checked out to patrons if eligible, like if there’s no waiting list.