Have you ever seen the movie "FairyTale: A True Story"? It's based on the story of the Cottingley Fairies. In 1917, 2 young girls took 5 photos of what they claimed to be fairies in the woods near their home, and it captured the imagination of England. It's a charming movie, and it begs the question: do fairies exist?
Today I want to talk about library fines. If you are wondering what library fines have to do with the existence of fairies, I'll get to that.
If you frequent a library, you are almost certain to have had a fine at one time or another. Most libraries charge a nominal fee, mostly as an incentive for the patron to return their items in a timely fashion. This is the fine structure at the Superior Public Library:
DVDs-50 cents/day, maximum of $5.00 per item.
E-readers-$5.00/day, maximum of $30.00
Everything else, 20 cents/day, maximum of $4.00 per item
Have you ever wondered what those nominal fees add up to? The Superior Public Library makes about $20,000 of our annual budget from the collection of fines. Wow! Those small amounts really add up, and they are very important to our bottom line. Imagine $20,000 less out of the book budget. At around $25 per, that's 800 books. You can use this nifty library services calculator to discover what the library is worth to you in real dollars and cents.
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| http://www.ilovelibraries.org/what-libraries-do/calculator |
Now, what happens if the dog ate your book, or you ran over the DVD with your truck? (both have happened!). You would be charged for the item so that we can replace it. Anytime a fine is more than $5.00, library privileges are suspended until the fees are taken care of. This way a person wouldn't continue to build fines upon fines, getting out of hand and making it more difficult to pay off.
Usually when a patron has a library fine they gladly pay it, realizing how much it would cost them to buy the DVD or book or CD that they have recently enjoyed. For most people these nominal fees are not a problem. But there are those in our community that are stressed financially, for whom any extra expense is a burden. Oftentimes the people who are most affected are the ones for whom the library is a valueable resource. They rely on the library not just for entertainment but also for internet service, to apply for a job or pay their taxes. Perhaps they have young children and are part of the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Program. Or maybe they're studying for their GED, or trying to put together a resume. If their privileges are suspended it's a real burden.
The library has a solution, and you can be part of it, but only if you believe in the existence of fairies. Do you? Because if you do, you can be a Fine Fairy. What does this mean? It's very simple. Your donation, large or small, to the Fine Fairy program makes it possible for those less fortunate in our community to pay off their fines to help restore library privileges to children, vulnerable adults, and other patrons in our community. You can make a donation at the front desk specifically for the Fine Fairy, or if you are paying off your own fine, perhaps you could round it up to the next dollar. Just let us know. We won't divulge the names of those who contribute or of those who receive.
So put on your metaphorical wings. Wave your wand. Make magic happen for a fellow library patron. We believe in you, and we thank you.
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