Finally No Fines!
On Wednesday, October 18, the New York Public Library (NYPL) pardoned all unpaid fees for children and teenagers living in NYC. The New York Public Library has had a smaller scale forgiveness program in the past. The NYPL used to use a slip program where librarians could hand out fine forgiveness slips to individual students. The old slip program was only available to certain children and it only covered kids with less than 50 dollars in fines. However, the fine forgiveness program on Wednesday was a clean sweep of all children’s fees in the five boroughs.
Currently, after a child has racked up $15 or more in fines, they can no longer check out books. After Wednesday’s clean slate, 160,000 children will be able to check books out once again. Although children will not be forgiven for future fines, this program has helped some children with over “$180 in unreturned book fees and fines.” Jeffery C. Mays and Sarah Maslin Nir with the Guardian reported that the JPB Foundation will be paying $2.25 million to make up the bulk of the revenue that the NYPL lost.
This clean slate program that the New York Public Library instated is indicative of a larger shift in the library industry. For years there has been a growing debate amongst librarians: should library fees exist? Proponents of banning library fees, such as GCSes librarian Ms. Smith argues, “Librarians want people to love the library and come back because they find things they enjoy, not because they fear they will get a collection letter.”
Mays and Nir also reported that some libraries have already taken steps towards fine-free programs: “Since 2015, the District of Columbia’s Public Library System has not penalized children 19 and under for late or lost materials.” Additionally, “San Francisco offered a six-week fine forgiveness period this year, during which it unblocked the cards of more than 5,000 people.” Also, according to the Guardian reports that supporters of banning fines argue that “the first libraries were set up by benefactors who had the vision and ethos of literacy, for all, for free,” not a place that kids begrudgingly go to on a class trip.
On the other hand, the NYPL relies on “revenue from fines to fund certain programs.” The ban of library fees is supposed to get kids to like the library more. However, without the revenue of fees, the library might not be able to fund certain programs that interest kids in the first place. Additionally, librarian Sue Williamson argues that “When a customer borrows something from a public library, they enter into a contract with the service to look after the item while it is in their possession and return it at a specified time.” This teaches children responsibility and an appreciation for literature. Also, “Public libraries are a community resource” which need to “provide equal access” for all it’s members and the New York Times says that fines help maintain book availability for all children.
Although library fines have held the library community together for years, too many members of that same community believe it is time for change, so a shift in the Library industry is coming sooner rather than later.