[Michlib-l] Removing Historic Patron Fine/Fees/Costs

Mon Jul 25 09:40:12 EDT 2022

Thank you to all who contributed to my question. It was very, very helpful!
The compilation of answers is below.

   -

   We keep all fines/fees on patron accounts until the accounts are deleted
   from the system -- currently after being expired for 7 years.
   -

   We started to clear out old fines/fees about 5 years ago. We typically
   use 6 years as the guide. Since our patrons are automatically switched over
   to inactive after 3 years of no use, we decided to double that for removing
   the fines/fees. What I do is leave the patron's account in the system and
   make a note that fees in "whatever specific amount for whatever specific
   reason" were deleted, so if they do return, we're aware of that in case it
   was a large amount for unreturned items.
   -

   We eliminated fines.  If an item has been returned, we remove the fine.
   If an item is still checked out and very overdue, we leave the fine until
   we decide to delete the item.  Then we can decide if we want to leave the
   cost of the item attached to the patron's record or if we want to forgive
   it.
   -

   Ours is retained forever. A patron card won’t expire if there are fines
   associated with the account.
   -

   We went just fine free in April and here is our summary.

We are now officially fine-free in the books. Overdue fines have been
deleted and borrowers are no longer charged for overdue fines unless there
are lost or damaged items.  We will begin a formal marketing campaign and
press releases to coincide with this historic event.  Please keep in mind
as you read these numbers, the return on these fees is a 95% probability of
never receiving anyway.  Number of borrowers deleted (no use since
3/1/2016): 3278    Total fines and fees deleted: $28,148.2
Please also keep in mind, that although the number of culled borrowers is
large, there has also not been a proper purge of members for some time.
These numbers will reflect in the algorithm of State Aid, but the impact
will be minimal.  The important thing to remember is we clear up a lot of
records that we do pay for each record

   -

   Our leadership team decided in 2019, once our library board approved us
   to go fine-free, to remove all fines ten years or older that had been
   issued by our library in addition to all existing overdue fines. We
   continue this practice annually.
   -

   I have seen policies on this run the gamut.  Years ago, at Ann Arbor
   Public (before it was a District) they used to print out patrons with
   delinquent records and keep them in an MLO (missing, long overdue) binder
   which needed to be checked before registering a new card.  This allowed
   them to purge the old data from the database, but still charge someone for
   old fines if they came to get a new card.
   Our Shared System recommends the parameters on this file
   https://cdn.ymaws.com/tln.org/resource/collection/E98CD1C1-6187-4037-B80C-84EAE6A62A89/Database_Cleanup_Requirements.pdf
   Let me know if you can access this.  Our co-op recently revised their web
   site and I'm not sure what's publicly accessible because I'm always logged
   on.
   One thing another library director mentioned and it stuck with me was to
   think about lost/damaged fines in a different way.  If the fine is
   preventing use of the library and the person is continuing to pay taxes,
   they are essentially paying off their fine through the inability to use the
   collection.  It may take a few years, but the question he posed was asking
   how long you bar someone from borrowing and still collect their tax money?
   Just a different perspective.

   -

   We don't have this written in a formal procedure, but typically if the
   fine/fee is for a lost or significantly damaged item, the fine/fee stays
   "forever." If I become aware the patron in question has died, I will
   manually go in and delete the fee and the patron record.

If the fine/fee is for materials that were returned late, but not
significantly late (i.e., we didn't send a final notice letter or bill), it
is purged from the account when the account would be purged for nonuse
(currently this is when the account has been inactive for between 4 and 5
years). We have to manually do this before our ILS will let us delete the
long-inactive account.

We stopped assessing traditional overdue fines on materials in 2019, so
only new-release videos and hotspots still generate daily overdue fees. For
all other materials there is a grace period of about 60 days with a fine
automatically generating only if the items are returned after that 60-day
grace. If the fine on the account is for a significantly past due item that
we struggled to get returned to us, but the item was ultimately returned,
we retain the fee for approximately 10 years and then purge the balance and
inactive account.

For minors under the age of 14, we retain fines/fees on their account
according to these procedures until they become adults, at which point the
balance is transferred to the responsible guardian's account and the young
adult has a clean record.

This procedure is a work in progress. Patrons can always appeal to me or to
the board if there are extenuating or mitigating circumstances.

   -

   Here in Superiorland, we remove fines under $5.00 that are over 5 years
   old for most of our libraries. A few do something a bit different (which we
   accommodate). One library just had me remove all fines over 2 years, no
   matter for how much, because they aren't gong to get that money. One
   library had us remove all fines and bills given to patrons under 18 when
   the patron turned 18 because their parents were legally responsible, not
   the underage patron.
   We like to remove old, small fines to keep the database cleaner. No
   point in keeping a patron record that is 15 years old because they have a
   20 cent fine.
   -

   I remove fines from children’s cards after awhile.  I also remove late
   fees, but not fees for unreturned materials.
   -

   Here we don't have a set policy, but we have generally been removing
   fines over two years old. If it is a lost item, we have the librarian in
   charge of that collection make the decision.
   -

   I am deleting patrons whose cards have expired 3 years ago or more. To
   do a mass deletion, patrons with fines are not automatically deleted.  I'm
   waiving fines (some quite large) so I can delete these patrons --- some
   going back 10 or more years ago.  I just feel that our database was getting
   clogged with people we would never see again.
   -

   Our Cooperative, Lakeland Cooperative does this annually.  The time
   limit is seven years and the patrons are removed from the system.  It does
   clean up the system.

On Thu, Jul 21, 2022 at 2:48 PM Michele Howard <mhoward at tadl.org> wrote:

> Just curious if any libraries remove patron fines/fees/costs after a
> pre-determined number of years, or if they are retained forever on the
> patron account.
>
> Thank you for taking the time to respond.
> I will summarize for the list.
>
> Best regards,
> Michele
>
> --
> Michele P. Howard, MILS
> Library Director
> Traverse Area District Library
> 231-932-8527
> she/her <https://odu.edu/safespace/pronouns-and-why-they-matter>
>
>
>

-- 
Michele P. Howard, MILS
Library Director
Traverse Area District Library
231-932-8527
she/her <https://odu.edu/safespace/pronouns-and-why-they-matter>
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