![]() But that can have a disproportionate impact on low-income patrons, and effectively dissuade them not only from using the library, but returning the overdue items.įines also block a higher share of low-income households from borrowing than wealthier ones. Typically, library fines accrue until a patron reaches a threshold where they’re blocked from borrowing, such as at $5 to $20 in late fees. “Folks in a lot of library branches can pay these fines in a snap, but if you can't, you're locked out and you pay a much bigger price.” “In our country, it's the thinner your wallet, the bigger penalty you pay – some people call it the poverty penalty,” Stuhldreher says. ![]() Paying too much: Savers want low banking fees – yet most of them are overpaying Q&A: How can women get back to work in the middle of a pandemic? It’s part of a larger discussion about the impact that fines and fees have on low-income people as well as communities of color, says Anne Stuhldreher, director of financial justice for the City of San Francisco. But the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic is pushing more libraries to reexamine overdue fines. To be sure, the movement to abolish overdue library fines started a few years before the pandemic, such as at the San Francisco Public Library, which went fine-free in 2019. “For many people in the country right now, things are very, very tight.” “It really came down to an equity issue – people who are on limited incomes, those are often the people who need to use the library the most,” Danko says. It decided to get rid of overdue book fees in January after an examination of the impact on low-income patrons, recalls Mary Danko, director of the library. One of the most recent libraries to join the trend is Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Vermont, housed in a 1904 building constructed with funds donated by industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Since March, dozens of libraries have abolished the fees, citing the economic barrier they create for low-income patrons. The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating many changes in daily life – including the age-old practice of charging fines for overdue library books.
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