The Cochrane Public Library has marked the start of a new chapter for local bookworms, recently announcing the facility was eliminating its $25-a-year card fee and all late fees as of Jan. 13.
According to library director Monique Fiedler-Sills, 59 per cent of public libraries in Alberta do not charge card fees, and Cochrane Public Library decided it was time to follow suit.
“We just want to remove as many barriers to access to ensure that everyone has the ability to take out our materials here,” Fiedler-Sills said.
She added that charging overdue fines is also a practice in decline throughout the library sector, as doing so isn’t seen as a source of revenue for public libraries as they experience a growing increase in digital resources.
“Plus, it is not our place to be punitive,” Fiedler-Sills said. “We want people…to access our resources, and we found that 25 per cent of our blocked accounts, they were kid accounts for children.
“Those are the people we most want to reach. It’s so important to have access to literacy and books at a young age.”
As per the decision, Cochrane families can now save the $25 annual fee for their local library card, and do not need to worry about late fees, which can range from 25 cents per day for books and other print materials to $1 per day for audio/visual materials.
Because of the uncertainty of the current economy, Fiedler-Sills said by eliminating these fees, it allows the Cochrane Public Library to be accessible to the entire town.
“Sometimes people would feel like they don’t have the money or the means for basically a lapse,” she said. “You basically forget it for a week, for a DVD which is a dollar a day, imagine if you had 10 DVDs out at a time? That’s $70 in overdue fines. That’s an incredible number of fines.
“We want people to have easy access to our resources, and not have them never come back because of a simple lapse in judgment or some forgetfulness.”
According to Fiedler-Sills, studies by larger libraries have indicated late fees are not actually that effective in getting materials back.
“In fact, some libraries found that they received more items back after [the removal of late fees] was instituted,” she said.
The Cochrane Public Library offers a wide range of materials outside of books, including snow shoes, life jackets, construction tools, board games, and even video games. The facility boasts one of the largest Nintendo Switch collections in the Marigold Library System.
But by far, out of all the collections, the most commonly rented items are for the library’s youngest patrons, including picture books, easy readers, and board books.
“We don’t want to ding those families, just trying to instill early literacy skills in their keys which are so key for their early success,
Fiedler-Sills said.
“One of the biggest predictors of early success is how many books a child has in the home.”
For Cochrane or Rocky View County residents who are interested in getting their free library card, Fiedler-Sills said the process is very fast and only requires a valid proof of address and ID.
Alongside the announcement, the Cochrane Public Library plans to host an event to celebrate the elimination of fees on Jan. 28, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Although Fiedler-Sills does not want to spoil too many details about the event, she teased a little info about what guests can expect.
“We have tons of things going on for families,” she said. “There will be a local author talk, a puppet show, activity stations, at 12:30 [p.m.] we are hoping to have cake, and perhaps a few more events rolling out in the week.”
Considering the Cochrane Public Library routinely sees 300 visitors daily, Fiedler-Sills shared an iconic quote from San Francisco that she felt reflected the library’s latest development.
“Overdue fines are a practice that negatively impacts low-income individuals by denying them exactly the service libraries exist to provide,” she said. “For patrons who can afford to pay, fines represent a little more than a minor inconvenience.”
