Erie County Public Library is making it easier for patrons to avoid fines for returning books and other eligible materials late.

It is launching automatic renewals at all Erie County Public Library locations and all of the county's independent public libraries starting Jan. 1, 2020.

Any eligible item checked out will be automatically renewed upon its due date if the item has not yet been returned.

“Auto-renewals will benefit Erie County residents by allowing more time with library items,” said Anitra Gates, manager of technical services for Erie County Public Library. “For our busy library users, we hope that this will be a convenient added benefit of using the library. It will relieve some of the worry of accruing late fines if patrons don’t remember to renew their items.”

All excluded items, items already having maximum renewals, patron account blocks and items with a hold will not be automatically renewed and need to be returned on time.