No more late fees

On behalf of the Morrisville Public Library Board of Trustees, I am delighted to announce that on Tuesday, Sept. 4, we are eliminating late fees. This will cover any overdue fees associated with any item checked out of our building, and any fines accrued up to this point.

Our reasons for taking this step forward are many, the most important being that late fees create a potential barrier to literacy and information. We would prefer to be the institution that encourages people to take out as many books and other materials as they want. Collecting late fees was a way for our community to help the library, well now, eliminating them is a way for us to help our community!

Fines for overdue materials are as old as public libraries. If you go back to the very earliest libraries in the United States, many charged a membership fee and were only open periodically. They used the membership money and fines to buy new books. When free and open public libraries became the norm in the 1880s and beyond, fines were meant to be gentle reminders to be responsible and bring back materials so that everyone could enjoy them. Those libraries were limited to what they had on their own shelves and it was a big deal if someone kept a book longer than the agreed upon borrowing period. That meant everyone else was deprived of the use of that book. That part has not changed, but because we have the means to share material with other libraries, our shelves are not bare because someone brought their book back a few days late.

This change, while new to Morrisville, is part of a growing local trend. We are the 27th library in the Mid York Library System to be fine free (out of 43)

We are also enrolling in autorenewals! No more having to renew items; it’s done for you! No more worrying about when your materials are due!

For more information on our services or upcoming events, check out our website at www.midyorklib.org/morrisville, find us on Facebook, Instagram, or just stop in.

Contact Michelle Rounds at the Morrisville Public Library by phone at 315-684-9130 or by email at mrounds@midyork.org Michelle Rounds, Morrisville

Public Library Manager