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Should Fines Be Eliminated In School Media Centers?

Arlene H. Dawson

Administration of the School Library Media Center

FRIT-7132-Y01

Georgia Southern University

Dr. Melissa Allen

Spring 2010
 Should student fines be eliminated in the school library media center? At my school¶s

last Media Center Committee meeting, the topic of student fines and the difficulty and hassles

over collecting them came up as a topic. The media specialists mentioned that overdue notices

and fines notices had been placed in the boxes of the homeroom teachers for distribution to

students. The media specialists bemoaned the fact that it was becoming increasingly difficult to

collect the fines and submitted them to the bookkeeper on a daily basis. When some members of

the committee inquired about the difficulties, the media specialists describe their policies and

procedures for the collection of fines. Students are fined ten cents each day for books that are

returned late. Fines are capped at $3.00. The school¶s bookkeeper¶s rules state that all monies

collected on a given day must be counted and submitted to each day by 2:00 P.M. Furthermore,

no more than $5.00 can be kept on hand for making change. The media specialists stated that

increasingly the fines were not taken care of by the end of the school year. The committee

engaged in a spirited discussion of whether the fines should just be forgiven or whether the

children should be held responsible for their actions.

I have found that there are advocates on both sides of the issue on a much larger scale

throughout the country. On one hand, we have people who feel that fines are incentives for

students to return materials on time and feel important fines teach some life-long lesson about

timeliness. They feel the return rules, due dates, and fines, illustrate the media center¶s or

library¶s seriousness over the issue. Fines are also means of generating income for the media

center. On the other side of the issue, you have advocates who feel that the collection of fines do

not significantly reduce the number of overdue materials. Some feel that fines are a hardship to

students and will keep them from using the media center fully. Other advocates feel that the
collection of fines, with mailed notices (cost of stationery and stamps), and valuable employee

time cost more to administer than they bring in to library coffers (Anderson,1984). So, we have

to ask if maybe it is time to eliminate school library fines.

Do we really reduce the number of overdue books and materials in significant numbers

through the use of fines? In Philadelphia, an attempt was made to reduce overdue books and

materials by doubling the daily book fines to a ³formidable fifty cents´ per day. The library

director found that the increase in fines back-fired. Fewer and fewer books were being returned,

and more and more people were not paying their fines. Overall revenue from fines actually

decreased from the previous year. More importantly, the director, Elliot Shelkrot, found that

fewer people were borrowing books. The aim of the library, of course, was not to reduce

circulation of materials. The library reversed its policy and returned the book fines to the

original amount (Oder, 2006).

Do students really learn some life-long lesson about the seriousness of timeliness and

following rules by having to pay fines? Consider the situation of Brian Cogley, who returned a

book to an Arizona library after thirty years. Mr. Cogley checked out ³The Great Brian´ during

the 1977-1978 school year when he was in fourth grade. He said that he always had the intention

of adding the book to his own personal collection because he liked it so much. He said, ³This is

really the only thing I have ever stolen in my life. I always felt bad about it (Rivera, p.1).´ On a

visit to his parents thirty years later, he came across the book. He said that he remembered that

he had not returned it to the library. He decided to do so and contributed $100.00 to cover any

late fees or fines (Rivera, 2007).

 Are these fines a hardship for students? Many libraries across the country are reporting

that they are dropping overdue fines for children¶s books and materials. Some public libraries

are also indicating the adoption of fine-free policies for senior citizens, handicapped, and other

segments of communities. In the Hennepin County Library in Minnesota, overdue fines were

dropped for physically handicapped persons. David Smith, the library¶s associate director of

public service, said, ³Many of these patrons have to rely on others for transportation or need a

longer time to read books and magazines (School Library Journal, 1976).´ The media specialists

at Stephenson Middle School in Dekalb County, Georgia stated that an increasing number of

students and parents make requests to have fines excused for financial reasons due to job losses

in today¶s economy.

If not fines then what? Is the real aim of fines to raise money or teach children lessons

about responsibility? ³In place of cash for overdue fines, the Kansas City Public Library in

Missouri allowed patron violators to pay fines with packaged food that was then donated to the

Heartland. AIDS Resource council Food Market, which supplies groceries to approximately

1000 AIDS patients (St.Lifer & Rogers, 1994).´ In Australia, the West Torrens library offered

customers a way to get in the Christmas spirit and avoid paying library fines. In 2009, the library

allowed patrons to pay fines with non-perishable food items. The library passed the donations on

to charities to help the less fortunate during the holiday period. One of the patrons at the library

thought the idea was inspiring. She felt that the library had taken a negative (paying overdue

fines) and turned it into something positive (Aaron, 2009).

There are other examples of alternatives to fines. Some librarians have tried amnesty

periods or ³free week´ in which patrons are allowed to return books and materials without fines

being charged. Jack Griffith (1977), the librarian at Lewis Central High School in Council
Bluffs, Iowa, advocated for free weeks. He feels that it is a way for librarians to try out a no

fines policy without totally destroying the tradition of fine collection. The free weeks are a way

for librarians to test the no fine concept. If the free week does not seem to work, the librarian

can coast out the week and return to the standard policy. However, he has found that when the

free weeks are compared with the average week, seventy-eight percent gains are produced in

overdue returns. He states that yes the media center misses the money, but a large number of

books considered lost are usually returned for other patrons to use. Students, who have being

staying away from the library, return to the library once again to make use of its services. Also,

he feels that the small amount of fine money lost is more than made up by the immediate jump in

library patrons visiting the library and increased circulation (Griffith, p.1977).

Is the elimination of overdue fines a viable concept? It can be for some libraries and

librarians. There are some considerations that have to be made for patrons in regards to

economic hardships. The concept of fines as incentives for positive behaviors has to be

examined. Are there other alternatives that will work more effectively and foster more positive

communication with the public? Librarians and media specialists have to look and be brave

enough to experiment.
 Works Cited

(1976). Fine-free libraries. School Library Journal, 22(6), 11. Retrieved from Academic Search
Complete database.

Aaron, M. (2009). Library cans book fines. Advertiser, The (Adelaide), 24. Retrieved from
Newspaper Source database.

Anderson, B. (1984). The fines-no fines debate (Overdue library materials). Library & Archival
Security, 6(2/3), 105-111. Retrieved from Information Science & Technology Abstracts
(ISTA) database.

Griffith, J. (1977). There is an alternative to fines. School Library Journal, 23(8), 50. Retrieved
from Academic Search Complete database.

Oder, N. (2006). Philadelphia backs off fine policy. Library Journal, 131(3), 20. Retrieved from
Academic Search Complete database.

Rivera, A. (2007, March 9). Man vexed by 30 years of guilt returns library book, fines self.
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), Retrieved from Newspaper Source database.

St. Lifer, E., & Rogers, M. (1994). Briefly. Library Journal, 119(13), 24. Retrieved from
Academic Search Complete database.
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