-------- RENEWALS -------- This is in response to the large number of messages we have been receiving from account holders worried that their subscriptions are about to expire. Renewal Procedure ----------------- We will mail out a renewal notice four to six weeks prior to your expiration date. When you receive the notice, please fill it out and return it with payment to the address shown on the form or to any branch of the Baltimore County Public Library. Please return it well before your expiration date! We cannot guarantee uninterrupted service if we receive your renewal too late to process before your expiration date. Please fill out the renewal form completely! Incomplete forms will be returned to you for completion, which may delay processing of your renewal. We are not able to accept renewals by phone or by e-mail at this time. New Price Structure ------------------- The current annual fee is $100 regardless of place of residence. We are no longer able to use money from the Library budget (Baltimore County tax money) to subsidize this service, so the old price break for Baltimore County residents no longer applies. A few renewal notices were inadvertently sent out with an old cover letter stating the price as $75 for residents, $100 for non-residents. The cover letter has been revised, but if you received one of the old ones please pay the fee shown on the renewal form, not the fee shown on the cover letter. We apologize for any confusion the old cover letter may have caused. $100 per year translates to $8.33 per month, and several subscribers have pointed out that this isn't much lower than the price asked by several of the new cut-rate Internet Service Providers. True, but most of them charge extra for services we provide as standard. If you are considering moving your account to another ISP, please be sure to read the fine print in their advertisements and in their service contracts. Another departure from our earlier price structure is that we now charge a $25 startup fee for new accounts in addition to the $100 annual fee. This does not apply to renewals, but you should know about it if you recommend our Internet service to others. Yet another departure is that we will now give a refund to anyone who requests that his/her account be cancelled. The refund will be prorated according to the amount of time remaining on your current subscription. The refund applies only to the annual fee. The $25 startup fee for new accounts is not refundable. Expiration Dates ---------------- When your account was created you received a "welcome packet" containing, among other things, a cover letter showing your username (login name), temporary password, e-mail address, and expiration date. If you purchased your account before approximately this time last year, your actual expiration date may be two months after the date shown on the letter. Here's why: In February 1996, in response to a situation where many users would tie up all our modems by staying logged on more or less permanently, we imposed a per-session time limit. It was originally intended to be a temporary measure, but in March 1966 it was made permanent. Because this represented a major change in our service policy, we extended all accounts then in existence by two months. This was announced in System News on March 29, 1996. Many of you apparently missed the announcement. We hear from a lot of customers who fear they are about to expire because they were unaware of the two-month extension. You will find that System News message (and all others) archived at the following URL: http://www.bcpl.lib.md.us/sysnews.html Please note that the extension was given only to paying customers. The free one-year subscriptions supplied to Baltimore County government employees and to media specialists in the Baltimore County Public Schools were not extended, so are up for renewal on the expiration date shown on your original welcome letter. We no longer supply free subscriptions for those groups. Questions? ---------- If you have any questions about our renewal procedure or about your expiration date, please contact the BCPL Internet Help Desk by phone (410-887-3297) or e-mail (oz@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us).