Richmond Hill Public Library waives overdue fines for thousands of customers

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 12, 2022

Richmond Hill Public Library wants you to start the new year with a clean slate. That's why the RHPL board approved the removal of all overdue fines going forward, and has also removed any existing overdue fines on customer accounts, effective immediately.

"Overdue fines were a legacy practice meant to encourage customers to return their items to the library in a timely manner, but they also created social, psychological and financial barriers that may have caused customers to stop using the library altogether," said Greg Beros, RHPL board chair.

"We strive to be an equitable community hub for all residents, but we can't do that when overdue fines create an unwelcoming and sometimes unmanageable strain for some people in our community."

During pandemic-related lockdowns, the library board made the decision to eliminate overdue fines temporarily from March 2020 until the end of 2021. Removing these fines had no significant impact on how often items were borrowed and returned to branches. Fines consist of less than one per cent of the library's net budget; when factoring in the time required to process fines, staff found the amount of fines collected did not result in a significant financial gain for the library.

"In the past five years, we've had over 8,500 customers with unpaid overdue fines who have not returned to the library; this means that thousands of customers may feel deterred from experiencing our diverse programs, expansive collections and vital community services due to fines," said Darren Solomon, CEO of Richmond Hill Public Library.

"We must continue to be a space where everyone can connect, learn, grow and thrive; and through eliminating fines, we're giving many community members the opportunity to re-engage with the library without worrying about overdue fines."

Over the course of the pandemic, many libraries across North America have joined the movement to eliminate the collection of overdue fines from their day-to-day procedures.

Fines for overdue materials comprise just one of the bills that may be charged to your library account. Other bills include fees for lost or damaged material, processing fees and administrative fees.

If a customer does not renew or return an item for over four weeks, they will be billed replacement costs for the item. These costs will be waived once the item is returned in good condition.

Overdue fines that have previously been paid to the library will go directly toward supporting the development of library programs, services and collections. For more information, visit www.rhpl.ca/fines.