NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Starting August 1, there are no more fines just for bringing a book back late at the Hutchinson Public Library.
"We're getting rid of fines that people might currently have, overdue fines," said Gregg Wamsley with the library. "We won't be charging overdue fines going forward. That doesn't mean there are zero fees. For example, if you damaged a book or you lost a book or something like that, we're still going to charge for that, because we have to replace it. We do have a couple of other things that we will continue to charge overdues for. Mainly our hotspots that we check out and for interlibrary loan items, because those are items that other libraries have loaned to us. We collect overdue fines on that. But, for anything that's a Hutchinson Public Library book, CD, DVD, whatever, there will be no more overdue fines."
This is an expansion of something the library is already doing.
"Children and seniors, we've never charged overdue fees for," Wamsley said. "We're just kind of adding young adults and adults, so now nobody will have to."
This shouldn't make that big of a difference in what the library has in stock, either.
"Other libraries that are doing this, we surveyed pretty widely and pretty extensively," Wamsley said. "They're finding no real difference in people keeping things late, if they're charging fines or if they're not charging fines. Taxpayers already pay taxes to use these materials. We just kind of felt like, it's only fair that we don't add on an extra charge for something as simple as maybe forgetting for a few days bringing a book back."
For more information on the Hutchinson Public Library, go to hutchpl.org.