Caitlin McGlade

The Republic | azcentral.com

Glendale will pay Unique Management Services Inc. up to %2450%2C000 over the next two years.

The city will pay the firm %248.95 for each overdue account.

That firm uses a 120-day series of letters%2C calls%2C skip tracing and credit reporting.

Glendale residents stockpiling old library books and dodging the fines may get hounded by the city's bounty hunter, a private firm that retrieves missing materials from delinquent library-goers.

Glendale has renewed a contract with Unique Management Services Inc. and will pay the firm up to $50,000 over the next two years to go after patrons whom library staff could not corral despite repeated efforts.

The city will pay the firm $8.95 for each overdue account, but Glendale does make money through the agreement, which has been in place since 2003.

Glendale has paid the firm on average about $23,900 a year since 2009 and retrieved about $48,200 worth of materials and about $45,000 in cash.

And it's quite a task. More than 2,600 Glendale library accounts owing $111,000 worth of fines and materials are turned over to the collection agency in an average year. Those accounts face a $30 fine in addition to their late fees.

The Glendale City Council approved the two-year contract during the meeting this week.

Unique Management Services is a global collection agency that works solely with libraries. While it focuses on collecting fines and fees, the firm primarily aims to return missing Fitzgeralds, Steinbecks and other materials to their library homes. All library systems in metro Phoenix use the firm except for the Maricopa County Library District, according to a City Council report.

The firm, which launched in the 1990s, works with 1,400 public libraries and has headquarters in the U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Its staff has recovered more than $250 million in materials, fines and fees by using what the company calls a "gentle nudge process."

That means a 120-day series of letters, calls, skip tracing and credit reporting "based upon the Golden Rule to 'treat others the way you would like to be treated,' " according to the firm's website.