July 4, 2020: Let Freedom Ring - the End of Library Late Fees!

We’re all doing what we can, and to that end, Multnomah County Library is forgiving all existing late fees, and won’t charge late fees from here on out.*

There’s a little algebra problem hidden in the following paragraph, as you will see: 

“The library said it is removing fine debt for more than 72,000 accounts, a total of more than $730,000. More than 2,000 people have had accounts blocked due to fines of more than $50.”

(So the average amassed fine is about $10, but if you take out the top 2,000 accounts at more than $50, the average is… I dunno. I’m not doing my math today.)

“’We have watched closely as a growing body of research has shown that late fines don’t work, that a large percentage can never be collected and that ending the practice doesn’t increase the number of late returns,’ Multnomah County Director of Libraries Vailey Oehlke said in a statement….In its last fiscal year, the library collected about $550,000 in overdue fines. That’s less than 1% of its annual budget.’

I ran up at least $1.25 of that total, and I paid it off before the libraries closed, I’m proud to say.

I am one of life’s fortunate, and can always afford $1.25, so I am going to miss slinking up to the counter and saying, “I am here to pay my debt to society.” But I’m probably having that odd nostalgia only because I am so starved for human interaction right now that talking to a kindly librarian and paying fifty cents for the privilege seems like a distant dream, and a bargain. In fact, what with self-checkout and all, I had an actual pang upon learning that I would no longer have that excuse (once our libraries reopen) to talk to the librarians. I’ll have to cook up some worthy reference questions, I guess.

*They will charge REPLACEMENT costs if you never return the book. Feel free to quibble with the difference between “late fees” and “replacement costs.” I’m just the messenger. But they aren’t free bookstores, is all.  

Update, May, 2023:  I had forgotten about this change in library policy. Then I returned something very late, and the next time I went in, I tried to pay my fine. The kind librarian told me they no longer charge late fees. A faint bell rang. Still, I came home and told Rick, who said, "Wow, are there any books on the shelves at ALL?" I assured him there were. So I asked, the following visit, if they had suffered a measurable loss of books. Nope. I asked a follow-up: WERE they measuring? Nope. 

There you have it.