No more overdue fines at county libraries

After an unplanned test run that lasted 14 months, the Spokane County Library District has eliminated fines for late materials as of Jan. 1.

The move comes as libraries across the nation, including in Washington, have examin ed barriers to access, said the district’s operations director, Doug Stumbough. Fines for overdue materials have emerged as one of those barriers.

“Overdue fines disproportionately affect low-income community members as well as community members of color,” the district wrote in a Facebook post announcing the change. “These fine practices reduce library access and unfairly affect community members who might benefit the most from library engagement and resources.”

The district has 11 libraries in Spokane Valley, Deer Park, Fairfield, Airway Heights, Cheney and Medical Lake as well as in unincorporated Spokane County. The decision to do away with fines put them in line with the Liberty Lake Library, which eliminated them in April 2019, and the Spokane Public Library, which followed soon after in August 2019.

Stumbough said the district began looking at the issue in 2019 as well. “Of course, COVID came along,” he said. “As a library, we were actually closed for direct service for a couple months and then were curbside for a while.”

During this time, the district temporarily suspended all overdue fines for 14 months. “It was a completely unplanned test run on the impact it would have on our budget,” Stumbough said.

In 2011, fines accounted for 2.5% of the district’s budget. By 2019 that had dropped to 1.2%. That number continued to drop as people checked out more digital items instead of physical books that had to be returned by a certain date. “How customers used the library shifted,” he said.

The purpose of the fines was to encourage people to return items on time, not make money, Stumbough said. It was clear that the fines were not a key revenue source.

But at the same time, the fines were a deterrent to people using the library even though it was only 20 cents per item per day. Some people felt like they couldn’t use the library until the fines were paid, Stumbough said, even though that wasn’t true.

“There’s that feeling that they can’t use the library until that’s taken care of,” he said. “We don’t block use of the card until it reaches $15.”

Libraries have learned that eliminating fines does not increase the number of items that aren’t returned, but it does increase the number of items borrowed, he said.

Though fines have been eliminated, that doesn’t mean that people can keep items indefinitely. After 28 days, the item is considered lost and the customer is billed for the item, Stumbough said. Even after that point the item can be returned and the replacement fee can be removed.

Stumbough said library patrons seem to like the new policy and that the 14-month test run showed that it would have a minimal impact on the district. He said the district estimates it would have collected $80,000 in overdue fines in 2023. “We tightened the budget a little bit,” he said.

The fine elimination program applies only to new fines and is not retroactive, Stumbough said. “These are for any new fines going forward,” he said. “Any fines accrued before Jan. 1 remain.”