Can’t seem to finish off that latest Michael Connelly or Ruth Ware novel? You won’t have to worry about racking up late fees if you borrowed that book from the Whistler Public Library, because it’s decided to go fine-free.
The library in the B.C. mountain town has announced that, as of this Sunday, it will no longer charge fines for overdue items. They say it’s all in a bid to encourage “increased access to library services.”
Fines make up less than one per cent of the library’s revenue, noted Whistler Public Library Board Chair Gord Annand.
“(The fines) do not represent the relationship we want to have with the community, which is one of altruism and goodwill. The practice is no longer keeping up with the mission,” he said in a statement.
Library Director Elizabeth Tracy explained that fines often discourage access to the library and their goal is to make people “feel positively about the library.”
Library patrons will have six weeks to return their borrowed items. If they fail to do so, they will then be charged for the replacement value of the lost items.
Only a handful of other libraries in North America have gone fine-free. The public library in nearby Pemberton, B.C., for example, has been fine-free since 2008.
The Whistler library says it’s been working on removing its fines for years. It stopped charging overdue fines on children’s books more than 10 years ago, and staff have always been able to waive or reduce fines, at their discretion.
In the case of eBooks and eAudiobooks, the overdue issue takes care of itself, since the items self-return after use.
