Photo by army.arch.

Hey, if the Office of Tax and Revenue and the Department of Motor Vehicles can do it, why can’t the D.C. Public Library? The city’s bookmasters announced this morning that — beginning December 5 and through February 5 — they’ll be launching their own amnesty program, forgiving fines on overdue, lost or damaged books, CDs, DVDs, and other materials.

Obviously, the aim is to convince people who have been avoiding the library because they owe money to come back and see how great the facilities and services are. “Libraries exist to give people access to books,” Ginnie Cooper, chief librarian for the District of Columbia, said in the announcement. “When fines and fees keep people away from the library, we need to find ways to encourage them to return.” According to DCPL, all people have to do to take advantage of the offer is simply return their materials, or just talk with any of the city’s librarians to have their names cleared.

The library is the third city agency to run a major amnesty program of late — the city pulled in more than $20 million from an income tax amnesty program last year, while the DMV has gotten more than 35,000 people to pay up for citations during its recent grace period.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be sitting here waiting on Pittsburgh’s public library system to see this item and install a similar plan, so I can finally return that hardcover copy of Friday Night Lights I took out back in my sophomore year of undergrad and never returned.