BERKELEY — Berkeley libraries as of July 1 will stop charging fees for overdue books, DVDs, CDs and magazines in an effort to make library services available to everyone.
Libraries across the country are considering the same policy, since daily overdue fines prevent many people in low-income areas from checking out items, said board of library trustees president Diane Davenport in a news release. Baltimore and Salt Lake City public libraries have ditched their late fees.
Library officials found that people in the least wealthy parts of the city did not use library services for fear of being charged late fees. The current overdue fee is 25 cents a day for books and materials from the Berkeley public libraries and $1 a day for materials checked out through the Link+ inter-library program.
“Our goal right now is to welcome people back to the library and ensure that everyone has access to reading materials,” said Berkeley Public Library director Elliot Warren.
The library board voted unanimously June 6 to stop charging the fines.
“We know that fines are a barrier to library use for many, that the cost to collect fines is higher than the fines collected and that the vast majority — 88 percent — of materials are returned within one week of their due date,” Davenport said.
Though library patrons will not be on the hook for late fees, they still will have to pay replacement fees — based on the retail cost — for books and other items that are overdue by more than six weeks, Warren said.
Library patrons with three or more overdue items will not be able to check out additional items until they return the overdue ones, the news release said.
Berkeley libraries stopped charging late fees for children’s materials decades ago, the news release said. Library officials are considering stopping charging late fees for tool rentals from the tool library; as of July 1 the late fees for overdue tools will be $1 a day, $5 a day or $10 a day depending on the tool.