<div dir="ltr">I've been out of library work for a number of years now, but a lot of what was just posted struck a real chord with me in regard to fines.<br><br>My experience was that fines kept patrons away.<br>Fines caused stress for front line staff.<br>Fines didn't generate that large an amount of revenue. Not enough to justify the development of a confrontational relationship between front line staff and patrons.<br><br>You charge for lost items. <br>In fact, in my mind, you charge what it would cost to replace it on the current market, including all of the related personnel and processing expenses, because I experienced a patron utilizing ILL as a means of adding items to his library, who when told that it would cost him more to pay for the "lost item", an item he claimed to have left at a currency exchange (if you've lived in Chicago you know what these are) than it would to order it through his local bookstore at BiP price, suddenly he found it and returned it. And yes, as soon as he heard what we would charge, he quoted the BiP price; immediately, no pause at all.<div>You have to make stealing library materials an uneconomical method of personal library collection development, and uneconomical in regard to selling them, which requires making the total amount charged to their account exceed the fair market price for that edition or a functionally equivalent edition, whichever is higher.</div><div><br></div><div>Yes, this isn't nice to those who _did_ lose the item, but unless they can prove someone forcibly removed it from their possession, it's a penalty for not upholding their part of the contract as a library patron.</div><div>(I still don't have a clue what happened to a picture book I was reading as a young child, which we never located the following morning; it didn't even show up when we sold the house a decade later. No clue whatsoever what happened to it. I had it checked out, it vanished from my bedroom, we paid for it.)<br><div><br></div><div>For people with a history of "loosing" library materials, you block their borrowing privileges; they can still use them in house. Possibly under supervision, depending upon other considerations. </div><div>This does require keeping track of the fact that they have lost items after they've paid the charges, and have your system generate flags concerning them after x number of items lost.<br><br>And... when you charge for lost items, when you block borrowing privileges, supervisory staff steps in and deals with it.</div></div><div>You don't throw that on your front line staff.</div><div>Things which involve being confrontational with your patrons should not be the responsibility of the folks at the front line in a library, if it can be avoided.</div><div>(Part of that sentiment on my part stems from management _not_ backing up staff when staff followed written policy and it got confrontational. If you aren't willing to enforce policy due to it causing "bad press", change the policy; don't stab your staff in the back. Yes, I'm still bitter.)</div><div><br></div><div>Yours,</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>John Mead</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Jan 26, 2019 at 12:00 PM <<a href="mailto:libs-or-request@listsmart.osl.state.or.us">libs-or-request@listsmart.osl.state.or.us</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Send Libs-Or mailing list submissions to<br>
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Today's Topics:<br>
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1. Re: Fine Free Libraries (Julie Retherford)<br>
2. Re: Fine Free Libraries (Diedre Conkling)<br>
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Message: 1<br>
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2019 12:01:44 -0800<br>
From: "Julie Retherford" <<a href="mailto:julie@chetcolibrary.org" target="_blank">julie@chetcolibrary.org</a>><br>
To: "'Rita J Radford'" <<a href="mailto:riddlecitylibrary@gmail.com" target="_blank">riddlecitylibrary@gmail.com</a>>,<br>
<<a href="mailto:Libs-Or@listsmart.osl.state.or.us" target="_blank">Libs-Or@listsmart.osl.state.or.us</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [Libs-Or] Fine Free Libraries<br>
Message-ID: <031d01d4b4e8$cc576940$65063bc0$@<a href="http://chetcolibrary.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">chetcolibrary.org</a>><br>
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Hi, Rita! My current library here (and the entire Coastline Consortium) just recently went fine free for juveniles, but not for everyone. I would love to go 100% fine free, though. My library in Ohio went fine free a couple years and it was great. <br>
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<br>
<br>
Basic arguments for it: <br>
<br>
* Research shows fines don?t have a real impact on return rates<br>
<br>
* Fines only have an impact on low income people?it?s not a big deal for someone with money to pay a $10 fine, but for someone who doesn?t have a job or struggles to pay their bills, you may as well ask for $500<br>
<br>
* For a lot of libraries, fine collection is a very small part of their budget<br>
<br>
* What has a bigger impact on return rates is blocking checkouts. If someone has 3 overdue items and they aren?t allowed to check anything else out until they return the overdue items, they will return them. <br>
<br>
* It creates a TON of goodwill from the community. When we went fine free it was in the newspapers and on the radio, and we milked it. And we had a HUGE number of people come in after not having come in for 20+ years, all because they had very minor late fines. <br>
<br>
* If something is more than 4 or 6 or 8 weeks overdue (however long you want), you just charge them for the book. Late fines do not preclude you from having lost item charges<br>
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<br>
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There are a lot of articles out there about going Fine Free. I encourage you to take some time and learn about it! And if you?re going to be at WLA-OLA, I?m in the group presenting with Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney and would be happy to chat with you more. <br>
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Regards,<br>
<br>
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<br>
Julie Retherford, Director<br>
<br>
Chetco Community Public Library<br>
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541.469.7738<br>
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<<a href="http://www.chetcolibrary.org/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.chetcolibrary.org/</a>> <br>
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From: Libs-Or [mailto:<a href="mailto:libs-or-bounces@listsmart.osl.state.or.us" target="_blank">libs-or-bounces@listsmart.osl.state.or.us</a>] On Behalf Of Rita J Radford<br>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2019 11:34 AM<br>
To: Diedre Conkling <<a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>>; libs-or@listsmart. osl. state. or. us <<a href="mailto:libs-or@listsmart.osl.state.or.us" target="_blank">libs-or@listsmart.osl.state.or.us</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [Libs-Or] Fine Free Libraries<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Will someone please explain to me the advantage of "fine-free"? In my thinking it removes responsibility from the patron and cheapens the value of our collections. This is only the second time I've heard of this concept so perhaps I don't have the whole picture. <br>
<br>
In the dark,<br>
Rita Radford<br>
Riddle City Library<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On January 25, 2019, at 10:20 AM, Diedre Conkling < <mailto:<a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>> <a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
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<br>
<br>
I just noticed that not all of the Oregon libraries without fines are on this map, <br>
<br>
<a href="https://endlibraryfines.info/fine-free-library-map/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://endlibraryfines.info/fine-free-library-map/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
-- <br>
<br>
Diedre Conkling<br>
<mailto:<a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>> <a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a><br>
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?If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.??Maya Angelou<br>
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Message: 2<br>
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2019 12:57:09 -0800<br>
From: Diedre Conkling <<a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>><br>
To: libs-or <<a href="mailto:libs-or@listsmart.osl.state.or.us" target="_blank">libs-or@listsmart.osl.state.or.us</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [Libs-Or] Fine Free Libraries<br>
Message-ID:<br>
<<a href="mailto:CAF-idW5O4S8xhb7eMEdpDQSfbaAF_Ncb3EfUA3fzKOxMChT9xQ@mail.gmail.com" target="_blank">CAF-idW5O4S8xhb7eMEdpDQSfbaAF_Ncb3EfUA3fzKOxMChT9xQ@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"<br>
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I?ve been reading through the responses others have made and so far they<br>
haven?t touched on the issue that made me want to have fine free libraries.<br>
<br>
I worked as a circulation clerk between 1975 and 1978, before running off<br>
to get my library degree. Collecting fees is very hard on circulation<br>
staff. They are the ones who get to deal with most of the anger from<br>
patrons. When I was a circulation clerk we always looked up the patron<br>
record, before it was an automated process, and would always let patrons<br>
know about their fines. I think the fine level was $ .10 per day but it<br>
might have been $.05 per day. The circulation staff informally decided it<br>
just wasn?t worth it to argue anything that was less than $1.00. We would<br>
just delete the fines if the patron argued. Yes, we did not get permission<br>
from the head of the department or the library director to do this but we<br>
really had to do it for our own mental health.<br>
<br>
When getting my MLS I did look for literature about charging fines and<br>
return rates. There were articles saying charging fines improved return<br>
rates. There were articles saying that fines didn?t improve return rates.<br>
There were articles saying that return rates were the same but items were<br>
returned a bit later than the due date more frequently when fines weren?t<br>
charged. These articles were written before many libraries had an ILS and<br>
I think the research on this would be much better today.<br>
<br>
My decision after all of this was that I would not have fines in a library<br>
is I was ever in the position to make that decision. My main reason for<br>
not wanting fines has always been to reduce stress on staff.<br>
<br>
When I got to Lincoln County we were just putting in our first ILS. The<br>
Lincoln County Library District (not a facility used by patrons) managed<br>
the Siletz Library. We were putting in the perimeters for library<br>
circulation rules and I immediately made the Siletz Library fine free.<br>
Other libraries in the county have gone fine free over the years for their<br>
own reasons.<br>
<br>
We have always sent out overdue notices and do charge for the replacement<br>
of very overdue items. We just don?t have fines.<br>
<br>
<br>
On Fri, Jan 25, 2019 at 11:33 AM Rita J Radford <<a href="mailto:riddlecitylibrary@gmail.com" target="_blank">riddlecitylibrary@gmail.com</a>><br>
wrote:<br>
<br>
> Will someone please explain to me the advantage of "fine-free"? In my<br>
> thinking it removes responsibility from the patron and cheapens the value<br>
> of our collections. This is only the second time I've heard of this concept<br>
> so perhaps I don't have the whole picture.<br>
><br>
> In the dark,<br>
> Rita Radford<br>
> Riddle City Library<br>
><br>
><br>
> On January 25, 2019, at 10:20 AM, Diedre Conkling <<a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>><br>
> wrote:<br>
><br>
><br>
> I just noticed that not all of the Oregon libraries without fines are on<br>
> this map,<br>
> <a href="https://endlibraryfines.info/fine-free-library-map/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://endlibraryfines.info/fine-free-library-map/</a><br>
><br>
> --<br>
> *Diedre Conkling*<br>
> *<a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>* <<a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>><br>
><br>
> ?If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change<br>
> your attitude.??Maya Angelou<br>
><br>
-- <br>
*Diedre Conkling*<br>
*<a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>* <<a href="mailto:diedre08@gmail.com" target="_blank">diedre08@gmail.com</a>><br>
<br>
?If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change<br>
your attitude.??Maya Angelou<br>
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