Sudbury public library won't eliminate overdue fines even as others consider dropping them

One public library in the north is asking if it should eliminate overdue fines while another is responding with a hard "no".

The library board in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. will discuss the idea at a meeting later this month.

Retired librarian, and member of the local library board Jami Van Haaften proposed the elimination of overdue fines from the Sault public library.

She says when she worked at the medical library at Health Sciences North in Sudbury, she never charged late fees.

Her proposal to the library board was prompted by her six-year-old great nephew who was worried about returning his books on time.

"He's aware of the fines, he talks about them, it worries him,"she said.

"Of all the things the library experience should be for a six-year old, having an overdue book should not be part of that conversation."

Van Haaften's motion to eliminate fines at the Sault Public Library has been passed on to the policy committee of the board.

She says she'd like to know the statistics behind the overdue fines, like revenue, and demographics of those with overdue fines.

"It's a source of revenue in a way, but it's an unreliable source of revenue. They don't know from one year to another what the revenue is going to be," Van Haaften said.

Van Haaften says eliminating library fees is a growing trend, and other libraries are changing their policies for library resources returned late. Some libraries are finding alternatives for fines instead.

"There's different strategies for having the books returned, and encouraging people to read."

Eliminating overdue fines is not an option in Sudbury.

Mette Krüger, manager of Libraries and Heritage Resources for Greater Sudbury, says money collected from overdue fines is budgeted yearly.

In 2019, the Greater Sudbury Public Library collected $60,000 from patrons who paid overdue late fees.

"The budget we receive for the library operations, we anticipate that we will get a certain amount of overdue fines," she said.

"That $60,000 from 2019 just goes to offset our expenses."

According to Krüger, any decision about the future of overdue fines would come from the Greater Sudbury Public Library Board.

"Now the board would need to make decisions based on budgetary implications of course because we do rely on some of those fines for our operational costs."

"But also our library values, obviously we try to be as inclusive as possible and reduce barriers to accessing library services," Krüger said.

Library patrons who accumulate more than $10 in fines lose their borrowing privileges.

"I also just want to emphasize that we charge fines not to be punitive in any way, but really to  encourage people to bring the items back, so that other people have access to them," she said.

Patrons can be notified when their book or item is coming due, but Krüger says renewing is an option either in person, over the phone, online or using the library's mobile app.

Krüger says people shouldn't be embarrassed about returning an item late, because it happens to everyone — even library staff.

"We will take back your item, it doesn't matter how late it is. We are just absolutely pleased to have the item back so that we can provide it as part of our collection," she said.

Most items can be returned to any of the library branches across the city, except items borrowed from the leisure equipment lending library, those items must be returned to the branch they were borrowed from.

"You're definitely not alone, and please just bring the item back if you're done with it."

To hear more on this story go here.