Quote:
Originally Posted by BookCat
The "no fines" policy is madness; I don't think it's the case in the UK (though I haven't used a library for years).
I do, however, remember that about twenty years ago my then local library declared a week's amnesty for overdue books. This allowed me to return a book which was about a year overdue without fear of the massive fine.
Anyone read "Computers Don't Argue,"? This discussion is reminding me of that.
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I don't know if it is in the above article, but one library that implemented a no fine policy had discovered that people in the poorer areas had 50% more late fines than in other areas. And because a $10 fine was a financial hardship for those people, they would stop going to the library, AND never return the overdue books. And these are people who don't have other access to a wide range of books and other library services. When they stopped the fine policy, usage went up, and late returns went down.