Oswego Public Library Montgomery campus

Library patrons are used to thinking of overdue fines as just punishment for keeping out books past their due date.

But, in recent years, overdue fines have come to be seen as barriers to service that prevent people — particularly youths and poor people — from using the library.

The American Library Association’s bill of rights states, “All library policies and procedures, particularly involving fines, fees and other charges, should be scrutinized for potential barriers to access.”

Library staffs in Illinois, and throughout the United States, have been doing just that. And many of them have decided that the negatives of fining library patrons outweigh the positives.

In 2015, the Aurora Public Library eliminated charging late fees on children’s books as a way to get books into the hands of local children, despite the potential costs associated with them.

“I would hear moms say that kids can only check out one book at a time because they didn’t want to pay fines on multiple books if they are late,” said the library’s Deputy Director Michaela Haberkem. “We don’t want that to be a barrier. We want as many of our books in their homes as possible.”

For the adults, the library has eliminated service fees associated with lost books, and created an automatic renewal process which will renew a book just prior to its due-date, assuming no one else is waiting to check-out the item.

“We want to make things as easy as possible for people,” Haberkem said. “The board has discussed getting rid of fines in general, but we have had budget issues and it’s a revenue stream we’re reluctant to give up at this point. Who knows what will happen in the future, but it’s something they’ve considered.”

Sandwich Public Library

Haberkem said the revenue lost in fine collection has been worth it.

“We’re thinking that the increase in community engagement is worth that expenditure,” she said. Fines currently amount for about $80,000 of the library’s $10 million budget.

In Yorkville, where the library’s budget is just under $732,000, fines are a bit more necessary, said Library Director Michelle Pfister.

“Right now our library is having budget problems and fines help with our revenue,” she said. “We’ve never had a thought about that money not coming in.”

Pfister said the fines also encourage patrons to return their materials on time.

“It’s working for us right now, and I don’t think we’ll be changing it.”

Down the road in Sandwich, library patrons have been without fines since January 2016.  While the director who suggested the change is no longer with the library, the system appears to be working said Lauree Zielezinski, head of circulation.

“The majority of people do like the new system,” she said. “But, some people who have been paying fines for a long time felt awkward at first. Kind of like they should be paying some sort of penalty for late returns.”

Oswego Public Library Director Sarah Skilton said they’ve been looking into policies similar to Sandwich and Aurora.

Skilton said they’ve pondered whether they can do away with fine revenue in their budget, but decided that the fines weren’t prohibitive to the library patrons.

We’ve actually seen our circulation increase,” she said.

Fines currently account for $80,000 of the library’s $4 million budget.

Skilton said the library will be conducting a community survey in the next several months and will ask for the public’s input on fine and fee collection.

“We want them to talk amongst themselves about the plusses and the minuses,” she said. “We do look into making changes quite frequently.”

Far from eliminating overdue fines, some libraries are bullish on collecting them. Last year, the Wisconsin state legislature passed a law empowering libraries to use collection agencies to collect overdue fines.

And there have been several cases in the U.S. in which delinquent patrons have been  arrested for not paying their library fines.

But, the trend toward eliminating fines continues as libraries ponder what they can do to foster more community engagement.

As the Public Library Association puts it, “We want the library institution as accessible as possible for everybody. We want the poor to be able to come in and lift themselves up. We want the youth to be able to feel unhindered to come to the library and enjoy our programs and materials.

— Kendall’s local libraries are rethinking fines and fees–