After getting rid of late fees, the Monroe County Public Library has seen an influx of returns for very overdue items.
(Monroe County Public Library)
Monroe County community librarian Christine Friesel is very involved in local genealogy, so patrons asking her about family history is nothing out of the ordinary.
When a patron started talking to her about a death in the family, she thought he wanted to find a death certificate or had a question about his family tree.
“And he said, ‘I found something, and I believe it belongs to the library, and it’s been on my mind that I have to return it. I think it’s overdue,’” said Friesel.
He said he found it when he was cleaning his late brother’s barn. When the patron pulled out an LP from the movie “The Graduate,” Friesel knew that this was no ordinary return. The last date on the manual checkout slip read May 12, 1976. This LP was nearly 50 years overdue.
The last time this book was checked out was in the 1990s. (Monroe County Public Library)
During the pandemic, the Monroe County Public Library got rid of its late fine program, per an American Library Association resolution that said fines constituted a barrier to service. So the patron did not have to pay anything for his overdue item.
“It’s very satisfying to clean out someone’s belongings, so he was putting things right,” said Friesel. “He left lighter.”
Friesel said that even though it was a bittersweet moment for the both of them, eliminating the late fees allows for more moments like this in the library without the burden of money.
“It seemed like it was more open to talk about book titles, content, what are you reading, did you know about this, so it put the conversation about money off,” said Friesel.
Some books, like this 1940s juvenile novel, are returned after decades. (Monroe County Public Library)
But how does the new system work?
If a patron doesn’t return an item, they are billed after 21 days for the lost item. But if they bring back the item at any time, the bill is waved. If an item is legitimately lost, they do have a care fee program that patrons can enter.
Under the new system, in the first three months of 2022 alone, the library has received over 96% of late items back, which is significantly more than in years past. More than 4,400 items were billed for at the three-week point, 4,233 were returned, 170 were paid for damages, and only five items were completely lost.
Before the system in 2019, out of 10,000 books billed, 2,690 were completely lost. Communications and marketing manager Mandy Hussey says that the new program is creating a positive impact on the library.
“The elimination of overdue fines really was making people bring things back,” said Hussey.
Library staff hope the program helps close more socio-economic barriers in Monroe County.
