What’s New In The Books
St. Louis County and public libraries drop fines with St. Charles possibly following in their footsteps
Although the change that racks up each day your book is overdue may not seem like a lot to some people, that may be the very reason why your neighbor refuses to go to the library.
January 31, 2020
With technology at the tip of everyone’s fingertips, it’s hard to find people that are willing and wanting to pick up a book and read. Nothing says it’s just the surplus of technology either; other things may have people avoiding the shelves of books: money.
Although the change that racks up each day your book is overdue may not seem like a lot to some people, that may be the very reason why your neighbor refuses to go to the library.
According to Waller McGuire, the executive director of the St. Louis Public Library in an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Our research says fines are an annoyance for the financially secure and a real obstacle for the financially insecure. And they are a real barrier to everybody,” McGuire said.
Never fear, the St. Louis County/Public Library is set to change that. As of Jan. 7, they announced that they have decided to drop all fines. In the city, they will be reimbursing the current ones. In the county, sadly, you will still have to cover 2019 fees.
So just like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says, save your nickels because fines are a thing of the past.
A plan with lots of potential, it is a trend that is spreading across the country, in cities like San Diego and Kansas City.
And according to Sylvia, a worker at the St. Charles City-County Library, their branch may determine if they will make the same decision when their fiscal year comes to a close on July 1.
If fines are irksome for you and you don’t want to travel all the way to St. Louis, it doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on some new changes that are right in our very own school library.
Ms. Oliva, the LHS librarian, loves the idea of what the library is doing for the public by removing fines.
“I think it’s great, it helps people of all financial standings to not worry about the money aspect of books anymore,” Oliva said.
And as for our library, the topic of removing fines is one discussed every year, but Oliva doesn’t think that taking fines out of the picture will really bring more people to the love of books. They do want to make as many accommodations as possible for students.
Before, when you could check out a book it was for two weeks at a time, but now it has been extended to a month/4 week check out. Additionally, the librarians have added an extra day of grace from fines, making it three days. The daily fine for an overdue book at the school library is still 5 cents a day.
