Closing the book
Commissioners to cover cost of outstanding fines in library system
They know they’re out there, they know they’re afraid to return.
In some cases it may be because of a few dollars. In others it may be because they assume the months, or even years, that have passed probably mean they owe an astronomical amount.
Officials from the Berks County Public Library System know there are a lot of readers across the county who are hesitant to visit one of the system’s 19 locations because they still have a book or other item they forgot to return by its due date. And that means they have a fine to pay.
The officials know those people are out there because they keep track. The system’s administrator Amy Resh told the county commissioners on Aug. 30 that the system has unpaid fines on about 22,000 accounts.
But that was Tuesday. When the calendar flips to 2023 that number could be zero.
That’s because the commissioners agreed to provide funding to wipe the slate clean for all those accounts.
The county will provide $125,000 of American Rescue Plan funding to cover the cost of outstanding fines in the library system. The move will create a reset, meaning a library patron who was on the hook for a fine will no longer owe anything.
The decision to erase accrued fines was made in the hopes that patrons who have not returned items out of fear of having to pay fines will finally bring them back. And, Resh said, there’s a good chance that people who were avoiding the library system because of their fines come back to use them.
“This will have a positive impact on our patrons and our libraries,” she said.
Resh said that thanks to a pilot program the system launched last summer she has the evidence to back up that claim.
She told the commissioners that the program saw 10 libraries get rid of fines on overdue materials altogether.
The program also offered amnesty options for old fines on a case-by-case basis.
While fines were not assessed for overdue materials, anything that was overdue by more than 30 days would be considered lost and the patron would be barred from borrowing anything else until it was paid for or returned. Fees were also assessed for damaged materials.
As a result of the program, Resh said a significant amount of overdue materials found their way back to those libraries. Many of the people who returned items expressed gratitude for the program and said they plan to resume using the library now that they have been given a fresh start.
“Many patrons were positively impacted and resumed library services during this pilot program period,” she said, noting there was no increase in late or lost items.
But not all libraries were able to take part in the program. And, Resh said, that has led to a patchwork of rules regarding fines, creating confusion among patrons who borrow materials within the countywide system.
For instance, she said there may be a patron who requests a book through the Reading Public Library but the book is actually part of the Kutztown Community Library collection. The patron must abide by the rules of the library that owns that material and, in this case, Kutztown is still charging overdue fines even though the Reading library is part of the pilot program.
Resh said she hopes this move by the commissioners will bring an end to that confusion.
But, she stressed, it is up to the member libraries to decide whether they will accept the offer from the county. She said libraries will be receiving a letter next week from the commissioners informing them of the program.
“So if the libraries accept the offer from the commissioners for a specific dollar amount then they are saying that they will also be fine free moving forward,” she said.
The trend of eliminating most library fines is growing across the country. The American Library Association in 2019 approved a resolution urging libraries to eventually end the collection of fines and the reliance on fines as a source of revenue.
The association said the collection of fines is an unnecessary barrier to library access.
Resh said the policy change in other library systems has been successful, saying that when the New York Public Library system decided to eliminate fines the policy change resulted in more than 88,000 returned items in just the first six months and a bump up in library usage.
“While we don’t think this phenomenon will happen here, we do think there will be a large uptick in returns, which is something we very much want because we want other people to be able to use them,” she said. “All we really want is our things back.”
All three commissioners said they fully support the program and are hopeful it will deliver results.