23 votes

New York Public Library ends all late fees

4 comments

  1. [2]
    vord
    Link
    It's a great move, Blockbuster did it in its dying days. But considering the library doesn't really have a business plan other than "secure funding based on participation," I'd wager they could...

    It's a great move, Blockbuster did it in its dying days. But considering the library doesn't really have a business plan other than "secure funding based on participation," I'd wager they could easily replace most unreturned materials for less than they'd get from not having to track/manage late fees. Especially if it increases participation so they can get more funds. They wouldn't need to be profitable again the way Blockbuster needed to.

    For me, its not even about being unable to afford anymore. I personally have felt anxiety about returning a book and having to look a librarian in the eye as they judge me for failing to return a book for like 3 months. It has happened at least 1 time in each town I've ever lived, and has resulted in me owning at least 5 library books. Not having to do that, subtling dropping in the return box and pretend it never happened, would avoid that situation and keep my participation high.

    To all the librarians out there, I'm sorry.

    12 votes
    1. AugustusFerdinand
      Link Parent
      This is the feeling of so many and is why libraries across the country, big and small, are dropping late fees. From the library committees my wife is on, there are studies that show your feelings...
      • Exemplary

      For me, its not even about being unable to afford anymore. I personally have felt anxiety about returning a book and having to look a librarian in the eye as they judge me for failing to return a book for like 3 months. It has happened at least 1 time in each town I've ever lived, and has resulted in me owning at least 5 library books. Not having to do that, subtling dropping in the return box and pretend it never happened, would avoid that situation and keep my participation high.

      To all the librarians out there, I'm sorry.

      This is the feeling of so many and is why libraries across the country, big and small, are dropping late fees. From the library committees my wife is on, there are studies that show your feelings about returning the books are shared by others in droves. Not only does dropping late fees increase the number of books returned, it increases library patronage because people that were afraid to go back because of the cost/shame of the fees, even if they've already returned the books.

      Next up you have the fact that library staff aren't cashiers, but have to keep a cash drawer to handle taking fees, provide change, do money counts each night to ensure all receipts are covered, and the cities have to collect those funds to be taken to the bank. The cost of keeping the cash on hand, cumulative hours for two people to check the count, prepare it for pickup, and then it be picked up by a third person is more than the money made on the fees. At least that's the case in my wife's moderately sized library system. Her branch frequently has under $1,000 in fees to be deposited each week and yet every week an armored car with a pair of armed guards shows up to collect a little cash bag with what amounts to a pittance inside it to take to the bank. The fees are so low that cards aren't accepted as the fee to charge it would be more than the late fee received.

      Oftentimes the staff will just write off the fee if the patron isn't a repeat late fee offender and they're under some arbitrary fee amount (and if they're nice, because it's up to the staff's discretion). Which brings me to another point; people will fight you over library fees. So often I've had to comfort my wife to bring her back up from a bad day at work because people have been utter assholes about a dollar or so in late fees. Won't even give her a chance to say she'll write them off as the conversation usually goes something like this (paraphrasing a bit):

      Wife: Hello, Smiley McLatefee, did you find everything you were looking for today?
      Smiley McLatefee: Sure did, how's your day going?
      Wife: That's good to hear. My day is going just fine, how's yours? I'm going to check if you have anything on hold in the back.
      Smiley McLatefee: Going pretty well, have a hair/nail appointment after this for my cousin's wedding in Cancun. Flying out tomorrow.
      Wife: That sounds fun. Nothing on hold, but I am showing you have $1.50 in late fees, but I can just remove those... (small because this is where they flip shit, interrupt, don't hear that she'll just remove them, and start yelling)
      Smiley McLatefee: I'M A ASSHOLE AND I RETURNED THOSE BOOKS ON TIME AND I KNOW I DID AND I PUT THEM IN THE MACHINE THAT CHECKS THEM IN AUTOMATICALLY RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME AND SPITS OUT A RECEIPT SHOWING EXACTLY WHEN I CHECKED THEM IN AND NO I DON'T HAVE IT BECAUSE WHO KEEPS A RECEIPT FOR THAT AND DO YOU KNOW WHO MY FATHER IS I'M GOING TO CALL MY COUNCILPERSON IF YOU DON'T REMOVE THOSE FEES AND MY TAXES PAY YOUR SALARY AND DID I MENTION I'M AN ASSHOLE YELLING AT SOMEONE JUST TRYING TO CHECK OUT MY BOOKS OVER A DOLLAR FUCKING FIFTY THAT WOULD BE REMOVED IF I WASN'T AN ASSHOLE AND NOW BECAUSE I'M YELLING AND CUSSING IN A LIBRARY THERE'S A SOLID CHANCE I MIGHT GET BANNED FROM THE LIBRARY FOR BEING AN ASSHOLE!

      If you think cashiers and fast food workers are treated like shit by the public (they are and it's not a pissing contest, just mentioning this for comparison), go see what public facing government workers have to deal with.

      Lastly, and this may be different in other library systems but all of those I've been privy to through my wife have been the same, the late fees collected don't even go back to the library; they go to the city's general fund. Now the general fund handles a lot of things, like the budget for the library, but it's not a direct line and so the late fees, and the losses associated with collecting them, is spread around to all the services the city provides.

      So you've got everything against fees and nothing for it. Costs more to collect them than made from them, the collection of them causes abuses to the staff, the losses from collecting them impacts the entire city's services, even if there is profit being made it doesn't go back, at least directly, to the library system that collected them, and the mere existence of them causes fewer people to use the library, both those that can afford the fees and those that cannot. The latter being those that need the library's services the most.

      A note on that last sentence. Just as my wife has been yelled at over a pittance of a fee, she's also had people break down and cry in front of her because they had a fee, couldn't afford to pay it, and since there was a fee on their account the library policy states they can't do things like use the computers for internet access which was needed for them to send a resume or check their work hours for the week or something else related to their livelihood. Or simply had to walk out of the library leaving their books, and often the books for their children, on the counter because they had accumulated late fees over the $5 okay-to-remove limit. More than once my wife has pulled money out of her purse to pay the late fees for patrons so she doesn't have to watch a child walk out of a library without a book.

      16 votes
  2. an_angry_tiger
    Link
    The Toronto Public Library hasn't been charging late fees starting with the pandemic, I guess to stop people from needing to go outside more. It's been nice, I can get really lazy with reading...

    The Toronto Public Library hasn't been charging late fees starting with the pandemic, I guess to stop people from needing to go outside more.

    It's been nice, I can get really lazy with reading books and needing to return them, so I had some (earlier in the pandemic) that were approaching months overdue with 0 fines.

    On the other hand, I can get really lazy with reading books and needing to return them, so now there's a delay with everyone else who wants to read those books and has to wait for me to return them.

    7 votes
  3. Pistos
    Link
    Nice, though I wonder if they'll refund money to anyone that paid late fees recently. Probably not, but you'd think some people might ask about that.

    Nice, though I wonder if they'll refund money to anyone that paid late fees recently. Probably not, but you'd think some people might ask about that.

    1 vote