THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay Public Library wants to encourage former users of its services to come back to the library, even if they owe late fees or other charges.
As of this week, any unpaid amounts are now forgiven.
The library announced Wednesday that it is wiping all its records clear of late fees and charges incurred in the past.
"We believe that each and every member of the community should be able to use the Library freely and fully, with dignity and without fear of overdue fines, regardless of financial status," it stated.
This follows a decision implemented in January 2020 to permanently end the practice of charging late fees.
The idea to go one step farther came from library staff.
"They were hearing stories from people who were library users who really couldn't use the library any longer because they couldn't afford to pay, for example, the late fees that they had incurred. And one of our strategic directions is to mitigate the impact of poverty and homelessness," said TBPL Director of Communities Tina Maronese.
The library's auditors consider the fines to be largely unrecoverable in any case, and the TBPL has no estimate of the total amount that's actually owed.
Maronese said "They aren't even recorded according to the audit process, so what is the problem with just wiping all the fines? Everybody starts with a clean slate."
She added, however, that forgiving outstanding overdue fees and other charges does not mean the library will allow people to take out a book and never bring it back.
"We still want to be responsible stewards of library property...if somebody doesn't return a book, for example, a charge [the price the library paid for it] will be applied to the library record but we hope that's the impetus for them to bring that item back to us."
In these situations, the library will send a notice to the borrower after 50 days.
The TBPL currently has about 32,000 registered users.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the library has pivoted to digital and online services, but Maronese said it's trying to do even more to bring patrons back.
"People feel shame if they owe the library money so they won't come back and use us again. This is really about following our strategic plan and mitigating the impact of poverty and homelessness, and appealing to the broader community including the youth to come and use the library."
