The Chicago Public Library system is are implementing a Blue Moon amnesty program in honor of the Aug. 31 blue moon to offer patrons with overdue books a clean slate.

The CPL’s amnesty program is designed to bring patrons back to Chicago’s public libraries and give them an opportunity to expunge their record and utilize all of the free services libraries offer. The “Blue Moon Amnesty” is running from Aug. 20 through Sept. 7 and  after one week, reported  considerable success.

“[The amnesty] has been great,” said Ruth Lednicer, director of marketing and communications for CPL. “We saw a huge number of people coming back, especially in the first few days, having either saved up items or having been suddenly aware that they can bring back items and not be afraid of how much the fine might cost.”

The amnesty waives all late fees for overdue materials, and and caps the fines for missing books at $10 and $20 for CDs and DVDs. The first amnesty that CPL issued was in 1985, but the library only extended the privilege to juvenile patrons. In 1992, the library invoked another amnesty catering to all ages that elicited the return of 77,000 overdue items. The Blue Moon Amnesty is the first library “forgiveness” program of this magnitude in Chicago in 20 years, according to Lednicer.

Lednicer said CPL expects  to recover $2 million worth of unreturned materials, a compromise the library is

willing to make despite $1.4 million in uncollected fines that have accumulated during the last two years.

“The biggest waive of our branch has been $350 from one patron,” said Lisa Roe, manager of the Bucktown-Wicker Park Public Library. “We’re looking at a couple thousand dollars per day in materials that have been lost.”

According to Roe, the first day of the amnesty on Aug. 20 was the busiest day the Wicker Park library has had in a couple of years.

“People are definitely taking advantage of the amnesty,” she said. “It’s definitely been bustling, and with students going back to school, that’s the other best benefit: Students are going to school with a fresh library card.

The CPL’s primary objective is to attract new patrons and encourage former patrons to return to the library.

“The goal is two-fold,” Lednicer said. “The goal is to get back some of the materials that we’ve paid for so we can [put] those back out circulating again. The other goal is to welcome back our patrons. We know through the stories we’ve heard…that a number of people have just stopped coming.”

With innovations like the Internet and e-book readers during the past 20 years, digitized information is beginning to influence a service that previously offered materials only in print format.

Carrie Russell, director of the programs for the American Library Association, said libraries have seen an increasing demand for e-books as well as online databases and newspapers.

“The number of libraries that offer e-books [has] doubled within the last five years,” Russell said. “It was 38 percent and now it’s

76 percent.”

According to Lednicer, libraries across the country continue to keep an eye on what people are interested in and monitor the ways that people access information. People are also beginning to take advantage of libraries as group

meeting spaces.

“One of the biggest trends [in the transformation of libraries] is moving from just people coming in on their own to consume information to bringing people together to create things,” Lednicer said.

With group projects becoming a focus of library services, the CPL is beginning to host events that encourage people to collaborate. Last year the Harold Washington branch hosted a Wikipedia day during which the library’s resources were used to create a new Wikipedia page. Lednicer said  the CPL plans to host more similar events this year.

“I think libraries across the country, especially in tough budget times, have seen tremendous support from the public in terms of saying, ‘this is something that’s important to us,’”

Lednicer said.