Libraries Are Dropping Overdue Fines -- But Can They Afford To?

4kodiak via Getty Images The New York Public Library has joined the growing ranks of public library systems contemplating the end of overdue fines for children, according to a WNYC report. “When you’re younger, one of the first or the only external pressures that’s put on you, that’s punitive, could easily be from a library setting,” American Library Association President Julie Todaro explained to HuffPost. “People want those books,” she told HuffPost, “and there’s not enough.” What’s more, she explained, replacing a lost or stolen book eats up more library resources than delinquent borrowers may realize ― not just in the price of the new book, but in costly human labor to acquire and process it. “It’s something that would not return a great deal of money for us and would create an adversarial role.” Once a public library is funded by use rather than by taxpayer funds, she added, the question arises: “What’s different from a bookstore?” The NYPL would be far from the first library system to dump fines for children. Suspending accounts until books are returned, rather than involving fines, was one measure Marx floated as an option for NYPL’s young readers, though Todaro notes that “ do it grudgingly, because we don’t want to limit access.” Or, libraries can just drop fines altogether and depend on residents to bring back books in a timely fashion without punitive measures.