[Michlib-l] Fine Free Responses

[Alycia McKowen]

Thank you to those who gave their thoughts on libraries eliminating fines.
Below are the responses I received.


We at Wolverine have been fine free for years and we love it. We actually
get more books back than we did when we charged fines. It doesn't matter
how little the fine is, if they owe they will not bring them in as much. I
am so glad we did it.                     Wolverine Library

_____________________________________________________________________

My board has discussed it and it would mean a loss of about $8000 each year
in our budget.  That is a significant loss for our library being a small
rural library.

White Cloud Library
_____________________________________________________________________

No plans to go fine free ---we're a small class IV library, with a small
budget. Fines amount to about $6500 of our budget and that is not
including lost and paid items. We do work with our patrons and will often
settle for 50% of what they owe on a case by case basis.
_____________________________________________________________________

Hi Alycia,
I am interested to see your responses.
We decided at our last board meeting to go fine free and the board will do a
vote once the final wording of the policy change is submitted at the next
board meeting. We decided to do this for "good will" more than anything
else. We think it will be seen as a positive step by our patrons and
community. We also didn't think that a $.20 a day fine up to $2.00 was much
of a deterrent to not having book returned on time. Our serial overdue
patrons are not deterred by the fine and the others who constitute most of
our overdue materials didn't intend to be late and are (as you know) very
apologetic, so we really don't feel it necessary to fine them.

Leland Township Public Library
_____________________________________________________________________

We still have fines but we switched ILS and the new system sends text
reminders and our fines have gone way down.
_____________________________________________________________________

Alycia,
You may be interested in this webinar. Registration link is
http://go.sirsidynix.com/Removing-Barriers-to-Access-SD-Webinar.html
The following SLC libraries are fine free or partially fine free.

Dickinson County Library doesn't charge fines
Portage Lake DL stopped charging fines in June
Munising Sch/Public Library only charges fines for videos
Devereaux Memorial Library doesn't charge fines for juvenile and teen
materials -
Peter White Public Library stopped charging fines for juvenile and teen
materials this spring on a trial basis

I hope that this information helps!

_____________________________________________________________________
Not fine free here- We seriously thought about it but decided the
taxpayers wouldn't like the idea- just the nature of our clientele- people
should be responsible!:) So we lowered the fines and made it much easier
for people with big fines to get right with the library once. (one time
20.00 for all the books you lost back when you were in high school.) We're
making less money but more friends! I think it was a good compromise.

Hart Area Public Library
_____________________________________________________________________

Hi,
We were the other way around. We were fine free until October 2017 then we
started charging fimes.

Here is what I noticed now that we charge fines.

1. We do get more books back in a more timely manner
2. People have said that they where not coming in now that we have fines
because they have a late fee and couldn't pay it so they dropped their
books in the drop box.
3. Before late fees people would come in with the book and be able to take
out a new book right away.
4. before late fines Kids didn't feel as bad bring back late books because
they knew they weren't going to be charged a late fee. But I also think
kids need to somehow be held accountable for bring back their books
late.(that is a whole different can of worms).

FYI...
The quickest way I have found to get books back whether you have fines or
no fines is withholding computer priviledges. Kids seem to find their
books real quick!!

We are a very small library (800 people) so the amount we make on late
fees is not much.


Richmond Township Library
_____________________________________________________________________

Hi Alycia,

This is something that has been on our radar for a while now, but all our
staff meetings take so long that we never get around to discussing it,
LOL!  I found a few journal articles that address it, and IIRC, there is
not a consensus: it works in some places and not in others.

I would be very interested in seeing the responses you get, particularly
if replies indicated whether they came from a public library vs a college
library.
_____________________________________________________________________


Alycia - We are not a fine free library (yet) but one of my board members
has been supportive of this for a long time. It is something we may pursue
next FY. I am interested in hearing what your responses are.

_____________________________________________________________________

Hi Alycia--

I've proposed going fine free to my board and they're actually pretty much
in favor of it, as we collect not-so-much annually.  They always like
other opinions, though, beyond journal articles so I'd love it if you'd
let me know what you find out.



Thanks,

Alycia McKowen
Library Director
St. Ignace Public Library
St. Ignace, MI
P: 906-643-8318