In our libraries, late fees look headed for the history books
HALIFAX — The era of the stern Canadian librarian peering at a patron’s record of late items and announcing the amount owed appears to be headed for the history books.
All of Nova Scotia’s libraries are going fine-free as they reopen from pandemic restrictions, while the public library in Vaughan, Ont., announced in late June it will stop imposing late fees.
The Edmonton and Calgary public library systems have also officially made the policy change, while the Toronto Public Library says in an email it has proposed eliminating fines as part of the City of Toronto’s 2021 poverty reduction strategy.
Mary Chevreau, chair of the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, estimates there are also at least seven other Canadian public library systems where children and teen services are permanently fine-free, and many other libraries across the country have temporarily lifted fines during COVID-19.
“I think it’s fair to say [going fine-free] is under consideration by most public libraries in Canada,” Chevreau, who is also the chief executive of the Kitchener Public Library, said in an interview on Friday.
However, she noted the libraries ending late fees still charge for books and other items that are lost.
Librarians are citing social equity and trust in the public as key rationales for abandoning fines, along with research from American libraries suggesting an amnesty on accumulated penalties promotes a flood of returned books.
Denise Corey, chair of the council of regional libraries in Nova Scotia, said librarians had seen fines become a barrier to access for the poor and marginalized.
“The point of fines was to get things back, but it doesn’t,” Corey, the chief librarian of Cumberland Public Libraries, said from Amherst, N.S. “It makes people, especially those who are vulnerable, fearful of coming back into the library.”
Corey’s library had a policy of fining 25 cents daily for books or $1 daily for DVDs, until a limit of $10 was reached and borrowing privileges were suspended. In Halifax, borrowers lost their privileges at $20 in accumulated penalties.
She said in rural areas, where public transit is often spotty, the fines sometimes piled up because a patron simply didn’t have access to a car. Families with accumulated penalties were having to choose between regaining their borrowing privileges or purchasing some groceries, she added.