The Rochester Public Library is eliminating overdue daily fines on materials it owns for both children and adults.
The library had already done that for kids and young adults in a pilot program that began in 2017, and Associate Library Director Jennifer Smathers said that program has resulted in increased library use by patrons.
So as of last Saturday, July 1, the elimination of the overdue fines will be extended to adults as well.
“Because in the past, let’s be honest, fines were created in order to get the materials back,” Smathers said. “And what we ended up finding was that folks, especially in lower economic areas, if they would build up a fine, they would get their card blocked, and then they wouldn’t be able to use the library. We really wanted to remove that barrier to access.”
Smathers also noted that when the fines were removed for the children and young adults, library officials found that they actually got more of the overdue materials back into the library system.
“They may not have come back in the same timeframe that we had a due date on them. But we got more of those materials back, there were less lost items,” Smathers said.
Library officials said that with the support of Mayor Malik Evans, the library is absorbing the anticipated revenue loss from the overdue fines.
Officials added that there will still be replacement costs required for books that have not been brought back at all.
