ACPL is Fine-Free!

We’re so excited to share that we’re officially fine-free! Borrowers are no longer charged daily overdue fines for Arkansas City Public Library materials.

Research (see below) has shown that overdue fines are not effective in encouraging the return of library materials. Instead, fines can quickly become a barrier to using the library. We know that life happens sometimes and it can be difficult to return items on time. But we don’t want overdue fines to discourage patrons from the invaluable free technology, literacy, and lifelong learning resources that our library offers.

We’ve put together a list of FAQs to help you navigate this new change.

No. All current overdue fines are forgiven. If you had overdue fines from checking out materials as of April 10, 2023, all old fines will be waived.

We will continue to charge for the replacement cost and processing fees for any lost or damaged items. The processing fee for ACPL is $5.00 per item.

We will still charge replacement fees for lost/damaged items. We send several notices to borrowers. Reminders are sent a few days before items are due, and overdue notices are sent at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks past the due date. After 90 days, a bill for unreturned items is sent. If you are not receiving these notices, it means that your contact information isn’t current, and you need to call the library to submit these updates. Alternatively, you may log into your account from the card catalog page and update your information there.

If a patron does not pay for lost, unreturned, or damaged items, ACPL sends debt ($25 minimum) to the Kansas Setoff program, which collects monies by withholding money from State payments.

A user’s library account will be suspended if any of the following occurs:

  • 1 item is “lost” which automatically occurs 60 days after the due date. Account will be back in good standing when the item is returned or replacement & processing fees are paid.
  • 1 item is overdue for any period of time (even 1 day). Account will be back in good standing when the item is returned or renewed.
     

Suspended accounts cannot access any of the library’s digital resources, such as Libby (Sunflower eLibrary).

Please do! There won’t be any overdue fines, but you may still be responsible for a $5 processing fee. Depending on how long it’s been lost, your debt may have already been sent to the Kansas setoff program. Please inquire for more details.

In January 2019, the American Library Association (ALA) passed a resolution that asserted monetary fines were a form of social inequity and that such fines create barriers to access. It also stated that “eliminating fines increases library card adoption and library usage.” The ALA is our largest professional organization and we give serious consideration to their resolutions.

Additionally, we carefully reviewed studies and articles about eliminating fines. Some examples of these include:

https://libguides.bgsu.edu/fine-research
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/10/30/20940677/chicago-public-library-no-fines-book-returns-increase-lightfoot
https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/removingbarrierstoaccess
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/30/781374759/we-wanted-our-patrons-back-public-libraries-scrap-late-fines-to-alleviate-inequi

Fines only account for about 0.1% to 0.25% of our annual budget. Being fine free removes a barrier to access our materials – the last thing we want you to worry about is paying a fine to your Library for an overdue item. Studies have shown that there is not an increase in materials not being returned on time. In addition, due to the rise in electronic materials (which do not accrue late fines) and other factors, fines are not a sustainable form of revenue for the library. 

We regularly run reports to let us know what the most popular titles are so that we can purchase additional copies of hot items. Additionally, new items (new to library in the last six months) will now circulate for 2-week checkout periods and cannot be renewed. Most importantly, items with holds cannot be renewed.

Feel free to call us at (620) 442-1280 or send us an email at arkcitypl@acpl.org.