Fines for late or lost books have always been part and parcel of library service. But should they be? These days, libraries are rethinking the real value of the practice, and some have done away with fines. Others are tinkering with aspects of the traditional system by instituting amnesty periods or issuing fine-free cards for a certain users, such as children, members of the U.S. military, or those with incomes below a certain threshold. A recent example of this policy shift is taking place at the New York Public Library (NYPL), where Christopher Platt, chief branch library officer, issued a statement stating that for a temporary period, “all kids and teens under 18 have had their library fines automatically forgiven and blocks on their library cards lifted. All kids and teens are encouraged to return any late materials.” To spread word of this one-time fine forgiveness, libraries in all five New York City boroughs hosted events that highlighted branch services and events that families could access for free. The results were encouraging. Over the first 12 days, for instance, the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) saw 9,079 children and teens who benefited from amnesty use their library card, either for check-outs, renewals, holds, or logging into their online account. For youth patrons who had been blocked for owing $15 or more, 1,703 used their cards. “Too bad I’m not a kid! But I love this anyway!” one user posted on BPL’s social media account.  “This is amazing. Thank you for removing boundaries,” another chimed in. Fritzi Bodenheimer, press officer for BPL, shares some advice for children’s librarians in public libraries who are considering instituting amnesty. For starters, “Think through how you can best communicate the amnesty to reach the most families,” she says. “Is it via email, direct mail, social media? Community partners?” She also urges brainstorming ways to get at the underlying reason why kids have trouble returning materials on time, and addressing the root cause. Many librarians applaud moves like NYPL’s. “Fines cause negative interactions with patrons and impact those who can least afford it. [Yet they] are not an incentive to return materials in a timely manner,” says Monica Baughman, deputy director, Worthington (OH) Library. Worthington has been fine-free since 2016. “The motivation was to get more items into the hands of our patrons, reduce the financial burden on those patrons, and transition interactions between patrons and staff to positive ones,” Baughman adds. Materials are still being returned at a comparable rate to the fine-enforced days, and community feedback to the dropping of fines has been positive.

Fine revenue comes at a price

SLJ’s sister publication, Library Journal, surveyed public librarians earlier this year on whether and how they collect late fees. Fines are a source of revenue for a large majority of public libraries, the survey showed. Ninety-two percent of survey respondents charge for late returns, with that money going into the general fund for about three-quarters of libraries. But obtaining that revenue requires staff time: training in handling overdue fines; communicating with patrons, whether in person, by email, regular mail, or phone calls; and even retaining collection agencies. Enforcing fines is “too time consuming and not worth the effort,” says Gina Seymour, library media specialist at Islip (NY) High School Library. Many school districts have also moved away from charging fines. “But it is kept very quiet, as it is seen as perhaps not being good stewards of taxpayer money,” says Stacy Lickteig, project coordinator for library services at Omaha (NE) Public Schools.

Eliminating barriers to access

“We have worked very hard to eliminate any barriers of access,” Lickteig says. “All students, regardless of lost items or unpaid fines, should always have an opportunity to check out library books.” Lickteig encourages the librarians in her district to have conversations with students in order to get at the reason why materials aren’t making it back, then waive fines as they deem appropriate. “Most important to us is that students recognize the library as a place where they always have opportunity regardless of what is happening outside of the library walls.” Some schools are lenient with late fines, but they do keep students accountable for the replacement cost of materials. “If a student returns an overdue book, the fine is absolved,” says Patricia Neville, librarian at West Babylon (NY) High School. “However, if a book is not returned, the student must pay for the cost of the book.” School librarians still make valiant efforts to recover lost books. “I issue notices every quarter, and at the end of the year, to our students through their homerooms for the books they owe, not only to the middle school, but also to their former elementary schools,” says Kristina Holzweiss, librarian at Bay Shore (NY) Middle School and SLJ’s 2015 School Librarian of the Year. Once a student goes to the high school, she starts mailing the notices. She’s even arranged with district guidance offices to notify her if a child will be moving, so that she can attempt to get back any outstanding books before they go. She tries her best to help the other librarians in her district get materials back. “It just costs a stamp. Do I have to? No. But why not? Eventually, though, we mark them as lost and go on.”

Keeping the big picture in mind 

Some feel that by waiving fines, students are not learning to be responsible citizens. But, as Lickteig points out, when your patrons are children, it’s important to remember that late returns may not be their fault. “The vast majority of fines that we see, especially at an elementary level, are out of the direct control of the students. In cases where students are moving from place to place, library books get lost in the shuffle. So the argument that we are not teaching them responsibility really does not make sense to me,” she says. Meanwhile, as more materials transition to a digital format, which essentially return themselves, fine revenue will be reduced. Nearly a third of respondents to the LJ survey stated that the use of digital materials is decreasing the amount of fines charged. In the meantime, “Giving students opportunities to read,” says Lickteig, “is never a bad idea.”