San Mateo considers nixing library fines

“I’m really glad that pressure will be off a lot of folks,” Papan said at the Jan. 3 special council meeting.

San Mateo Public Library is one of the few library systems that still collect fines in the Peninsula Library System. Daly City is also in the process of reviewing its fine program. In the past 10 years, most libraries have eliminated fines for youth, adult and senior materials, with PLS now automatically renewing items with no holds to reduce fines. James Moore, San Mateo’s city librarian, said staff research shows there could be better ways of ensuring people return materials instead of small fines.

“At this point, Daly City and San Mateo public are the last PLS libraries still charging fines on late items. Of nine libraries, there are just two of us left in our system,” Moore said.

Many public libraries now view the staff time spent on library fine collection to be unhelpful in the long run. Fine elimination has been temporarily allowed due to COVID-19, with little change in public behavior. Moore said there had been no significant difference in the rate of returns over the last few years. Most people who returned materials on time before do so now, while those who didn’t previously continue to. New strategies focus on suspending borrowing privileges instead of fines. Data show San Mateo Public Libraries collected $55,640 in late penalties in 2018-19, down from seven years ago when $127,000 was collected. Moore expects fines to continue to drop in the coming years, with penalties a tiny part of overall revenue and unlikely to hurt library finances significantly. Most fines across Peninsula libraries are from overdue materials or to replace items, like laptops.

“At this point, it seems clear to me the collection of late fines is simply becoming an obsolete practice at most public libraries in metropolitan areas across the U.S.,” Moore said.

Findings from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies found eliminating fines allows more time for library staff to help the public, reduces bad interactions with the public and reduces inequities for lower-income patrons. Members of the public spoke in favor of the idea, and the San Mateo Library Board discussed the topic in late 2021 and supported eliminating fines.

Moore noted San Mateo County libraries recently introduced a fine-free youth card for children and teens and recorded a 27% increase in circulation and a significant increase in library cards applications. It also saw a 15% increase in circulation after going fine-free for the public. However, Moore said the information appeared correlated and was not necessarily the result of eliminating fines. Of the 73,161 library cardholders at San Mateo Public Library, 4,006, or about 5% of cardholders, have blocked cards, relatively low when compared to other systems, Moore said. Around 75% of blocked cards are adults, with 25% youth cards.

“I think for the San Mateo Public Library to continue as the only library in the Peninsula Library System charging fines for late items will very soon become a difficult practice to defend with our patrons. It will be confusing for many patrons and will create considerable conflict for library staff to address, including myself, but especially frontline staff,” Moore said.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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