Denver Public Library and Colorado Springs have eliminated late fines and fees. Should Mesa County?

Back in early December, I shared the news that Denver Public Library was phasing out late fees on January 1st of this year. The Pikes Peak Library District will no longer charge late and overdue fines starting on Friday, February, 1st. Is it time for the Mesa County Library to follow suit?

Our mission as an organization is to eliminate barriers to information and resources, not create them,” says Director of PPLD Tim Blevins. He goes on to say too that he believes that fines are particularly prohibitive for the community's most financially challenged. He also reports that the overdue fines account for less than 1% of the library's revenue in 2017. That hardly seems worth it. The Denver Public Library thinks the fees are no longer worth the effort either and since eliminated them on the 1st of this year.

 

As I had suggested back in December too is that if you have regular offenders that can't bring what they've checked out on time, cancel their card. I believe for most the loss of access to the library would be more of a motivation to return stuff than a late fee.

Credit: KKDO

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