Good news for Jerry! 
Posted on 10/05/2021 5:56:05 PM PDT by algore
The largest public library system in the country has become the latest to eliminate all late fees.
Effective immediately, the New York Public Library system will not charge fines on overdue materials, and all library card holders have had their accounts cleared of any prior late fees or fines, including replacement fees for lost materials, the NYPL announced on Tuesday, in what it called a change intended to level the playing field for all library patrons and encourage use of library resources.
Fines are "an antiquated, ineffective way to encourage patrons to return their books; for those who can afford the fines, they are barely an incentive," New York Public Library President Anthony W. Marx said in a news release.
"For those who can't afford the fines — disproportionately low-income New Yorkers — they become a real barrier to access that we can no longer accept. This is a step towards a more equitable society, with more New Yorkers reading and using libraries, and we are proud to make it happen."
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Toasted, the concept of a Public Library is, in the US at least.
Does anybody in New York know how to read?
Free books! Yeah!
You know, my experience is that if you return the book on-time, the fines are $0. Are they saying low-income New Yorkers are too lazy or depraved to return a book?
As you imply, some of those books will go fast. Why not offer people who need it the lesson that good things are worth protecting, and that books are good? Abolishing fines won't do that, but it will actually help keep the poor, poor.
And that, at least, will help keep liberals happy.
Those old books aren’t being kept or stolen anymore.
They aren’t hawt shoes or iPhones.
My county library contracts with a company that gets the names of book deadbeats and often gets to get $10 out of those borrowers that don’t return a book within 42 days of the due date.
It’s nice to collect $10 bills for affixing a signature to a contract.
Oh come on, these poor folks can’t return books because they can’t get things like library cards and voter ID, stuff like that. /s
You know, my experience is that if you return the book on-time, the fines are $0. Are they saying low-income New Yorkers are too lazy or depraved to return a book?
Miss DeGroot : You’d like to check these out, would you? Well, I’m afraid you can’t! Do you know why?
Young Al : ‘Cause I didn’t bring you French fries like the other boys do?
Miss DeGroot : You’re a bad seed, Bundy. You can’t have these books because you are consistently overdue, you never have the money to pay... and looking at you now I doubt you ever will.
Young Al : I’ll bring ‘em back, I promise.
Miss DeGroot : You always promise, but you don’t follow through. And that, in a nutshell, is your problem. Make a promise, keep a promise.
Young Al : Yeah, yeah, bake a pie, eat a pie.
Libraries, Police, Fire, EMTs and decent roads to drive on are the ONLY things I never complain about when my Tax Dollars are at stake.
"If you want to support the library with a financial donation, you may make a check out to the Friends of the...Lending Library. Almost all of our books were donated. Although our shelves are filled, we can accept recently released books (for adults) and DVDs.
I guess we are just lucky those disadvantaged folk don’t have fireplaces.
Yeah ‘71 That was my first year on the job. Bad year for Libraries, bad year for America
At the public library near where I live, I see very few people in the book shelf isles. I do see young Asians seated around the perimeter, availing themselves of the free wifi to work on their college classes, and POC browsing social media on the many free computers at the center tables.
Upstairs — the children’s floor — is always packed with kids looking for and reading books. A very good sign.
Aisles
I miss books. I must have over 500 of them.
But printed books are no longer what I read. Amazon to iPad in an instant. No limit on how many you can carry around with you. I think the days of printed books are numbered. It's printed books that are "antiquated". Libraries must be hurting.
The last time I had a library fine was when I returned the book a day late and they charged me ten cents. I didn’t have any coins on me and had to break a buck. I thought they would give me a break for ten cents, but nope. It’s quite the bargain when you think about it.
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