City of Cedar Falls issued the following announcement on Dec. 31.
The American Library Association promotes removing barriers to access to information and library services, especially overdue fines. The Cedar Falls Public Library staff, Trustees, and Friends of the Library endorse this position, so beginning January 1, 2020, the library will be fine-free for most library materials.
Under the new policy, patrons are still encouraged to return their materials on time, with library borrowing policy defining what constitutes an item as overdue. As incentive, patrons with overdue items will be blocked from checking out further items until the overdue material is renewed or returned
Worried about others keeping items for too long? Libraries that have already gone fine free report that patrons return more items and return them sooner than they did when late fees were assessed. The CFPL trusts that their library patrons understand that others may be waiting for materials and that they will be considerate of others by returning or renewing materials in a timely manner.
Important details for CFPL cardholders:
- Checkout periods will remain the same, but once a patron has an item overdue, they may not borrow more materials until the overdue item is renewed or returned.
- Overdue fines accrued before January 1, 2020, will be waived.
- Patrons will still be charged for lost and damaged items. Charges for past lost and damaged items will remain on patrons’ accounts.
- The only materials that will still carry overdue fines are a few high-demand, non-traditional items: tech items and musical instruments in our Library of Things.
- All other materials will be fine-free!
We welcome back patrons who have not returned to the library because of their overdue fines. New Year, fresh start!
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up