Have you been getting e-mail reminders about that overdue copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People? Little slips of paper encouraging you to finish up with The Brothers Karamazov or pay the price? A stern notice informing you that Pius XII Memorial Library now officially considers that book about Russian anarchists lost from the face of the earth?

If so, your problems, for the moment, might be solved-because your debts could be absolved.

The University library system has declared that it will waive any debts on overdue books-if they are returned by Friday, May 5, the last day of classes.

The libraries have offered this incentive in the hope of retrieving as many stray books as possible, before they transition to a new cataloguing system.

“Having the fewest number of items out will help us with this transition,” said Patrick McCarthy, an associate librarian in health sciences. “It’s a good opportunity for people to clear their conscience and not have to pay any overdue fees.”

McCarthy said that the amnesty offer, as its creators have labeled it, does not extend to fees for interlibrary loans, book replacements, damaged materials and charges from non-SLU libraries.

The main feature of the new, electronic catalogue is that it will be based at Saint Louis University. Currently, the three University libraries-Pius, Law School Library and Health Sciences Center Library-are part of MERLIN, the University of Missouri “cluster,” or section, of the larger, state-wide MOBIUS library consortium.

By next fall, McCarthy said, SLU libraries will have their own cluster within the MOBIUS system, complete with an electronic server located on campus. Under the current system, SLU relies on a server located in Columbia, Mo.

Those who are working on the project hope that the new, local server will provide more efficient service to SLU users and better showcase the University’s more than 2 million books, journals, special collections and archives, McCarthy said.

The University also has plans to eventually incorporate the library at its Madrid campus into the new system. SLU students will still be able to borrow books from other libraries in the MOBIUS system.

The system itself has not yet been christened, but a competition is under way for bibliophiles to suggest what they believe to be the best moniker. Those wishing to submit a potential nickname can do so at slu.edu/libraries/pius/libnws/3-06/contest.html. The winner will receive a Billiken sweatshirt and cap.

Of the three University libraries, only Pius charges late fees, which are 10 cents per day, and 25 cents per hour for reserve materials. McCarthy said that libraries collect an average of $50 in overdue fines each day (for an estimated total of $12,500 annually).

“Last month, we sent out more than 2,500 overdue notices and more than 250 notices for billed books,” McCarthy said in an e-mail. “If these materials are returned during the amnesty period, we estimate that about $5,000 will be forgiven.”