Wichita ? An overdue book here. A forgotten videocassette or DVD there. Unpaid fines everywhere.

If everything was brought back, every account settled, the revenue from fines and the value of the Wichita Public Library’s missing materials would amount to just under $2 million — enough to stock its shelves for two years.

The library is missing almost 26,000 items, some for years — and it’s about to crack down.

Another 6,000 unpaid accounts are due to be turned over to a collection agency, and this month the library increased some overdue fees for the first time in almost a decade.

“We always hope first of all to get the material,” library director Cynthia Berner Harris said.

Wichita now charges a 25-cent daily late fee on books, which the city expects to bring in an extra $112,000 this year.

Most overdue offenders owe less than $20, but some have gone well over that amount.

One reader checked out 124 items nearly 10 years ago and never brought them back — incurring $2,430 in fines and lost materials fees, Berner Harris said. Five others owe more than $1,000 each.

The library now refers overdue accounts of $40 or more — there are 11,000 of those — to a collection agency. Next year’s proposed library budget suggests dropping the threshold to $25.

The new fines aren’t out of line, several people browsing at the library’s downtown branch told The Wichita Eagle on Friday.

“You know when your books are due,” said Donna Dyer, who was visiting with her 5-year-old son, Declan. “Books cost a lot of money.”