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Brookline library takes a page from Boston and ends late fees
By adamg on Wed, 07/19/2023 - 9:04am
Brookline.News reports the Public Library of Brookline has decided to stop charging late fees on overdue books and will wipe the slate of existing fines, saying the $10,000 a year it had been collecting is far outweighed by the value of having its three branches truly open to all. Boston stopped collecting late fees after the outset of the pandemic, then made that permanent in 2021.
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Comments
If Brookline continues to copy us ...
Honestly
Might as well annex them and call it a day
Doubtful
That will never happen. The number one reason is probably because of the school systems.
$10k is a lot
Has Boston found any change to the lateness and losses of books since they eliminated the policy?
$10k is not a lot.
It probably costs multiples of that just for staff and bank fees to collect it.
0.2%
..is only 0.2% of the library department's 2023 budget...so...not a big deal
Exactly, every step requires
Exactly, every step requires people to be paid, people to track, people to process.
It most likely costs more to collect than they get when you play it all out.
The real thing to watch for is if this new policy results in greater delinquency in book returns. The 10k is not much but if it results in even a slight uptick in never returned books that could become a serious fiscal issue.
A few years ago, I returned a
A few years ago, I returned a slightly overdue book to the Somerville library, and offered to pay the overdue fine in cash. The librarian waived it instead, and explained that it wasn't worth their time to process a 20-cent fine, even if the patron had exact change.
When Arlington stopped charging fines for most overdue items, they said that part of the reason was that library usage goes up when a library stops charging overdue fines.
As a side note, the Minuteman system isn't really set up to handle the situation where a patron has an overdue book that belongs to a library that does charge a fine, and returns it to one that doesn't. I think we concluded that if the library in question cared, they could get in touch with me and I'd figure out how to send them the money.
It may have increased donations a bit.
I made one when I felt bad about keeping a book out past due that had a waiting list.
"Late fees, she said, could
"Late fees, she said, could serve as a financial barrier to some borrowers, especially when paired with old rules that banned patrons who racked up a large number of unpaid fines."
BPL gives you 45 days, then if you don't return the item you get charged a replacement fee, which must be paid before you can check out additional items.
So someone can hold onto an item indefinitely, then when they bring it back (however long later) their replacement fee gets taken off the account and they can continue borrowing new items.
Isn't the point of late fees to encourage people to bring back items on time, so they are available for others to use?
Incurring late fees could be avoided by simple adulting.
Kids and teens can't exactly
Kids and teens can't exactly be expected to adult successfully, and youth from challenging home situations who can't pay fines are probably among the most likely to NEED access to what the library can offer (not the mention the stigma that is attached to being blocked from using the library by your inability to pay).
There's no upside to collecting fines. The money doesn't even go back into the Library's budget; it gets buried in some revenue line with the City that never circles back around.
More nuanced than that
So if one owes late fees they can't afford, some people just hold onto the book, intending to deal with it when they have the money. At some point, the library needs to replace the book. Those replacement costs for books that never return tends to exceed the late fees typically collected. So it's better economically to just get the book back.
Here's a good article with other impacts.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/07/us/new-york-public-library-fines-eliminat...
Why are we teaching people to
Why are we teaching people to be irresponsible? This is not a good thing.
Hey...
We let you use the internet...when will we ever learn?
You think this is all a big joke, don't you?
Well, let me tell you something, funny boy. You know that little stamp, the one that says "Brookline Public Library"? Well, that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole hell of a lot. Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I've seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What's this guy making such a big stink about old library books? Well, let me give you a hint, junior. Maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me. Maybe. Sure, we're too old to change the world. But what about that kid, sitting down, opening a book, right now, in a branch at the local library and finding drawings of pee-pees and wee-wees on the Cat in the Hat and The Five Chinese Brothers? Doesn't he deserve better? Look. If you think this is about overdue fines and missing books, you'd better think again. This is about that kid's right to read a book without getting his mind warped!
Libraries have been utilizing
from https://www.oif.ala.org/why-have-libraries-gone-fine-free-the-past-few-y....
A 2013 white paper by the Colorado State Libraries, done for their research program SPELL (Supporting Parents in Early Literacy through Libraries) found that libraries lost patrons and books through fine imposition: patrons held on to books because they were unable to pay the fines due with the book when returned. This disproportionately effects poor families, who stop using the library..
Full whitepaper: https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/removingbarrierstoaccess