Pierce County Library waives, forgives overdue book fees, citing benefits to community

The Pierce County Library System Board of Trustees chose to eliminate fines on overdue books and clear all account balances at its meeting Wednesday after staff concluded fines actually do more harm than good. People can still be charged fees for lost or damaged items, however.

After the pandemic began in 2020, the library system stopped charging customers late fines for all materials and allowed people to check out materials regardless of any balances on their accounts.

This was done in an effort to create goodwill in the community, allow library staff to focus on customer service and reduce financial stressors for residents, according to a memo sent to the Board of Trustees on March 20 from Pierce County Library System Customer Service Experience Director Kayce Hall and Finance Director Mary Stimson.

The moratorium continued as the pandemic went on. The library system did not budget any significant revenue related to fines and fees for the last three years, staff said.

“This has really allowed some folks who were not able to use the library for a few years to actually come back to the library. We’ve seen folks come back to visit us again. We’ve been seeing families come back,” Hall said at the meeting. “Libraries historically have not seen a large increase in the actual overdue items … The actual long term [data] actually shows that folks tend to bring their books back and when they’re not stressed out about having to pay fines on things and having to talk to somebody about owing money to the library, they actually feel safer and more comfortable using the library. We really want our space to be welcoming, and we want to remove those barriers.”

Prior to waiving fines, the total budgeted revenues for overdue fines made up less than 3% of the actual budgeted revenues. Looking back 10 years, the combined revenues collected from fines and fees made up only 1.5% of total revenue, library staff said in the memo.

Waiving fines would save library staff time and eliminate the cost for equipment and software used to keep track of fines, staff said. Additionally, the expenses related to collecting and maintaining overdue fines on user’s accounts “appear to offset the impact of these small budgeted revenue amounts for fines,” staff said.

Pierce County Libraries aren’t the only branches waiving library fines.

The practice is becoming more popular among library systems around the nation to reduce barriers for residents and improve access.

Studies have found that overall circulation and card usage increased at libraries that have waived late fines, while there has been little change to the number of overdue items long-term.

“The benefits of removing economic barriers to library service far outweigh the benefits the community receives by the library collecting fines,” staff said in the memo. “In summary, the Library recommends that the Board of Trustees eliminate the imposition and collection of overdue fines for late return of materials. The Library also recommends clearing all library account balances for unpaid library fines.”