Greenfield Public Library announces elimination of certain overdue fines

GREENFIELD, Wis. (CBS58) -- Overdue fines will soon be a thing of the past for the Greenfield Public Library, as they prepare to go “Fine Free” starting on June 1. The Library Board announced that overdue fines would no longer be applied for books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, and Tonies.

“This space is for everyone, these collections are for everyone… if people feel they don’t want to check it out because of the fines, that’s something we don’t want to do. We want everybody to have a positive experience when they come in, so I definitely think it’ll make the library a place people want to come to,” shared library board president Creston Flemming.

The current policy states that after five dollars in late fees, your library card is frozen until you pay it. But late fees, according to Flemming, really didn't make a big difference to the library. They reportedly make up only .0006% of the library’s annual budget. Even when someone pays their overdue fees, Fleming says that credit card fees oftentimes resulted in a negative net revenue.

Flemming states it all “boils down to equality and convenience. What we want to do is make it easier for people to borrow things from the library. We might have people be hesitant about checking out a certain number of books, especially elderly people, children, and disadvantaged people.”

Patrons like Deniz Bucko say fines can be intimidating, as she recalls her childhood experience: “We forgot to return our library books and we never went back to the library because we were too scared.” Now, she's instilling the love of reading to her newborn child, hoping to read 1,000 books before her baby goes into kindergarten.

To keep bringing in money without the fees, the library will host book sales, fundraisers, and take in donations. Patricia Wiese found out about the policy while visiting the library on May 22. She said, “I'm really delighted they’re doing that because a lot of people can’t afford it and don't intentionally get a fine for an overdue book or DVD, but that happens.”

The fine-free policy doesn't mean you get to keep as many books as you want, as long as you want, though. You have one month to return your book or pay off a "lost fee" before you can check out more. The fine-free policy has some exceptions, like explore passes, laptops, library of things, video games, and wireless hotspots.