How has COVID-19 impacted the movement of libraries going fine-free?
Almost any reader with a library card will be familiar with the concept of library fines. Libraries have been collecting fines since at least the late 1800s, originally using them to generate revenue for the library and also, in an example of strict father morality, to punish those who cannot adhere to arbitrary timelines.
When researching for this article, I was surprised to learn that research on going fine-free has been published since as far back as the 1970s. Similar to other movements involved with equality and equity, it took several decades — and in this case, a global pandemic — to put the idea across the finish line.
Going back to the Before Times, despite 35 years of research, over 90% of libraries still collected fines of some sort as of 2016. In January of 2019, the American Library Association (ALA) adopted a resolution adding the following to the ALA Policy Manual:
“The American Library Association asserts that imposition of monetary library fines creates a barrier to the provision of library and information services.”
Viewed through the lens of economic justice, it becomes easy to see how library fines would create a barrier to those who are most likely to need the library’s service: children and the socioeconomically disadvantaged.
It is clear that the elimination of library fines is a growing trend, and rightfully so. When we consider that the total amount of library fines collected prior to policy changes added up to to less than one half of one percent of each library system’s budget, the way forward seems clear.
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