The Sumner County Library Bylaws & Policies Committee on Jan. 2 instructed staff to draft a revised circulation policy that would prioritize county taxpayers, keep guest computer passes limited to one day, require patrons to return materials to the library where they were borrowed and consider items lost 21 days after the due date.

Committee members voted to have staff prepare the revised circulation policy as discussed and send the draft to the Sumner County Library Board for adoption. The committee's motion to have staff write up the revisions and forward them passed by voice vote with a 4-0 tally.

The committee's discussion focused on several specific changes staff will include in the rewrite. On nonresident library cards, staff proposed charging a nonresident fee to give priority to county taxpayers who fund the system; the draft that members discussed used a $10 fee as an example. The committee did not set a final numeric policy for every item; it directed staff to capture the choices made during the meeting in a single revised draft for board consideration.

On temporary computer access, the committee decided to keep the guest pass limited to one day and nonrenewable. A staff presenter described the current practice: guest passes are issued after patrons present photo identification, show the last four digits of their date of birth, and are printed as a single-day access code. A committee member argued most short-term visitors do not need multi-day passes and that daily reissuance has not been a practical problem.

The committee also moved to tighten the circulation of interlibrary materials. Members discussed the county's use of the Firefly courier service and said the courier should be reserved for interlibrary-loan transfers rather than routine patron returns moved between branches. "Materials should be returned to the original library from which they were borrowed," a staff presenter said during the debate, and committee members agreed this reduces confusion and strain on the courier system.

On overdue and lost materials, the committee debated timeframes and settled on counting loss from the due date rather than from checkout. After discussion about renewal cycles and typical checkout periods, members favored a relatively short window: materials will be considered lost if not returned within 21 days past the due date. The committee also discussed allowing a 30-day window for patrons who purchase replacement copies to bring discovered items back and receive a refund; staff were asked to include clear language about the refund window in the draft.

The draft policy will also include: (1) reference to existing overdue-materials and replacement-cost procedures; (2) default replacement-pricing language that leaves exceptional pricing to the discretion of library directors when catalog replacement prices are unavailable; and (3) a provision that overdue fees and replacement-cost rules will be enforced when items are not returned to their originating branch.

Committee members asked staff to incorporate existing operational details — for example, how card status and payment information are recognized across the county's two circulation systems (Hendersonville uses a different system than the four other branches) — and to clarify implementation steps for patrons and staff during the public relearning period. The committee asked staff to identify any legal or contractual restrictions tied to the Firefly courier funding and to note where the draft preserves directors' discretion for enforcement and exceptions.

The committee voted by voice to approve the staff rewrite and forward the circulation revision to the library board for final action.

What happens next: staff will prepare a single revised circulation policy that reflects the committee's directions — resident priority with a nonresident fee, one-day guest passes, return-to-origin requirement, a 21-day lost threshold measured from the due date, and discretionary replacement-pricing language — and circulate it to committee members for review before sending it to the library board.