Yesterday, I paid my overdue fines. I’ll be honest. It was a lot. It was enough to warrant the kindness of the staffer who graciously did not say aloud what I owed.
It’s not that the Ottawa Public Library’s fines are too high. They are, from what I can tell, on average. Some libraries, like the Chicago PL charge less. That’s not the point.
I don’t want to do away with fines, as some people would argue. But, is there another way?
Fines are effective incentives used reasonably well to coerce (gently, preferably) users to return books, etc. As well, overdue fines are an important subsidy of library financial plans. Simplistic arguments that fines are a barrier to user access, seem to me a little naive. Fines are like taxes; they are the price we pay for a civil library society.
But, there is an argument to be made for different fee structures other than the traditional pay-by-the-day fine.
The montly “subscription” is one alternative. Drawing on a model made popular but DVD mail-rental companies like Netflix and Zip.ca, users pay a monthly fee in exchange for no late fees, no due dates, and a scalable borrowing limit. The Hayward Public Library has a system like this.
This has lead to worries about the dreaded subscription library and lack of equal access. Hayward PL has tried to hedge this concern by making the monthly rate opt-in only and by attaching stricter borrowing limits.
A cost-based criticism of Hayward’s scheme suggests that:
It’s not a plan that provides good or innovative service to library users. Instead, it’s designed to get people who don’t pay fines to pay fines before they even check anything out. If they don’t pay them after the fact, why would they pay them before the fact?[source]
I don’t agree with the this assessment. The concern that Hayward doesn’t effectively leverage people who wouldn’t pay their fines or “subscribe”, to me really looks like a “no change.”
Frankly, at $9 a month for instance, it’s hardly punitive (unless it is), and over a year it may be better budget-wise for some people than accruing fines.
As well, library users who “subscribe” may find themselves using the library system more effectively to get their “dollar’s worth.” This may actually improve access and the flow of library materials.
Unfortunately, it’s not clear if Hayward PL has had a lot of takers. This may be an experiment that does not work well in a smaller system with a limited collection.
There should be no aspect of libraries that is so sacrosanct as to be immune to innovation. Fines are one area that can, has, and perhaps should see change other than inflation.
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The pic is from Rex Libris, a great comic about an immortal librarian. Cool, right?
Outstanding blog post, I look forward to reading more.
hopefully this comment doesn’t appear multiple times (it appears to freeze once i try to post my comment.. not sure if it’s really posting), but all I truly wanted to say was great post and thanks for sharing.
Great post! Thanks for sharing.