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Good news for library users – A FINE FREE amnesty period for library users has started!

Good news for library users – A FINE FREE amnesty period for library users has started!

Issued by George Municipality 20 February 2023 for immediate release

 

George Municipality is happy to announce that all library patrons in our area can now return library books without paying fines during an amnesty period. According to Rachel Williams: Manager: George Libraries, a fine-free amnesty period for public library patrons will be applicable until the Sita Library and Information Management System (SLIMS) is up and running again. Patrons are strongly encouraged to take full advantage of this period to return all overdue books to our libraries.

The SLIMS system managed by SITA has been unavailable to all non-metro libraries across the Western Cape since 15 November 2022. Because of a storage failure, the whole Virtual Machine Operating System collapsed. This system failure had a huge and ongoing impact on the service delivery to all public library users in the Western Cape. Williams said, the recovery period is unknown yet and could take up to 6 months. Please be advised that library services are a function of the WC Provincial Government and therefore, the George Municipality is not able to resolve the current problem.

 

It should be noted that all public libraries in George and surrounding areas remain open and continue to serve the public. All public libraries make use of the standardised form created to capture issues and returns. The number of books issued per patron is limited until SLIMS is back online. The Impala system cannot be used for the purpose of Inter-Library Loans while SLIMS is unavailable.

 

New library memberships are accepted at all public libraries and are added to the OverDrive e-book system. All public libraries remain open to the public for in-house use and recreational activities, literacy, outreach, and other programmes as it is not dependent on SLIMS availability.  Williams thanked all patrons for their patience and support and would like to assure them of their willingness to be of service to them.

For more information, please phone the libraries at:
Blanco 044 870 7047, Conville 044 801 9320 / 3240 / 3241, George 044 801 9288 / 9289 / 9292 / 9393, Haarlem 044 763 1023 / 078 0863 667, Pacaltsdorp 044 803 9340, Thembalethu 044 803 2260, Touwsranten 044 803 9285 and Uniondale 044 7521 024.