Paul library staff held their collective breath: Without threat of punishment, would patrons hoard all the books? Though fine revenue represented a tiny fraction of the library's budget, for some patrons, paying fines meant skimping on groceries.Īfter zeroing card balances and reinstating borrowing privileges, St. Paul cardholders - 17% of patrons in the system - had their borrowing privileges blocked due to racking up fines of $10 or more. But the consequences were uneven.īefore going fine-free, in January 2019, about 42,000 St. Now, as librarians increasingly play a wide range of duties - book-finder, story-reader, resume-writing coach, even Narcan administrator - they have a new role, as a quasi-fairy godmother making late fees vanish.Įverybody returns books late sometimes, "even people who work at libraries," Hartman acknowledges. Late fees have long been as much a part of public libraries as books, but funding a collective resource through people's mistakes contradicted the mission of libraries to be a welcoming place where people gather, access information and gain opportunity. Paul, Hennepin County, Rochester and Duluth. In the past few years, a "fine-free" movement has swept the country, and now includes several local systems, including St. "I do not want that to be the first thing that somebody thinks about when they think about the library." "The first thing they say to me is, 'Omigod, I have some books overdue, I'm so sorry,' " she said. Paul Public Library, tells a new acquaintance where she works, they often respond with shame. When Maureen Hartman, a deputy director of the St.
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