Read on Twitter
Oof. There's a lot here. So, some immediate and imperfect thoughts before I go cook dinner. 1) I wrote my MLS masters thesis on volunteers. They need training, supervising, & structure. And they should generally be, ya know, actual volunteers. 1/ https://twitter.com/MinnPost/status/1357782299224473607
2) The author misrepresents the policy. They are still charging if the book is lost, or if it is never returned. Saying that there is a "wholesale abolition of fines" is simply untrue. There is an abolition of *late* fees/fines, but replacement fees still exist. 2/
3) People who want to actively steal from libraries are not that common. And generally they just steal. They don't check out the books they steal first. 4) There is a lot of good, scholarly research about why removing fines works for both libraries and patrons. 3/
5)Comparing library fines to parking meters, speed. tickets, & other vehicle/driving fees is not great for a lot of reasons. (Besides that, it is notable the author "drives past" the library. A lot of folks inside likely arrived walking or via mass transit.) 4/
6) I've paid some library late fees in my day. I also stopped using libraries when I couldn't afford to pay any late fees I *might* rack up by accident. People who can afford late fees are not deterred by them, & do not occupy a moral high ground. They just pay & move on. 5/
7) The phrase "impress upon them the importance of timeliness" is pretty cringey. It paints adults--particularly lower income adults--like children, while also presuming that children are responsible for a) when they can go to the library & b) paying the fines themselves. 6/
A version of this article was published over a year ago (Nov. 6, 2019) in a different newspaper (the Sun-Post). Since then lots of things have changed and a lot of data has been gathered pointing to the success of reducing late fees. None of that is countered in this piece. 7/
Using late fees to prop up library budgets is unsustainable. Many library systems-- including St. Paul-- have reported a steadily decreasing amount of money collected from late fees for at least a decade. 8/
It was been a long day of helping the info-seeking public, so I'll just close with: People who espouse to love libraries should listen to the workers and scholars in the field. We live, study, & *believe in* this work. Decisions like this one by HC Library aren't just whims. 9/9
