Niagara Falls Public Library officially goes fine-free

Niagara Falls Public Library is ditching fines for 2022. 

It says it has been waving late book fines for almost two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They recently voted to go fine-free which means the library will no longer charge people fines for overdue materials.

“The library wanted to eliminate the stress of overdue items during the pandemic as many people lost their jobs or homes, or were struggling in some other ways,” said Library CEO Alicia Subnaik Kilgour in a statement. “Permanently waiving fines is one way we can help our community forever.”

The Niagara Falls Public Library ran a pilot project through 2021 to track fines and overdue items to gather information before making the decision to go fine-free.

It says the project found 97 per cent of library items were returned on time and the remaining three per cent were returned to the library after the customers were sent overdue notifications. 

“Fines can discourage marginalized communities from using the library and we wanted to continue to make our library more accessible and inclusive for all,” said Kilgour. “Our hope is anyone who felt uncomfortable coming into the library because of an outstanding fine will now feel welcome to visit us once again.”

Although customers who don’t return items by the due date won’t be fined, the library says if they have not returned the item after 28 days past the final due date, they will be charged a replacement fee for the item and their account will be blocked from borrowing any further material.

The library says the Fine-Free policy will go into effect on January 1, 2022.