Posted on July 11, 2020 at 4:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Fun fact: late fines only make up about 1.5 percent of a library’s operating budget.
That national average was shared by Dawn Wacek, youth services manager of the La Crosse Public Library in Wisconsin, who recently spoke with NPR’s TED Radio Hour about the value of abolishing late fees.
Sure, that percentage could represent a substantial amount of money for larger library systems, but Wacek points out that it doesn’t account for the resources going into attempting to collect those fines.
And much more importantly, she argues, the fear of overdue fees keeps many of the patrons who most need a library away from the service.
Wacek cites a study done by the University of Colorado as well as her own experience in La Crosse to further support her argument — and you can read it in full on NPR as well as listening to it below.
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Categories: Today in Books