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Article - Fine Free (includes Camden County Library)

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Article - Fine Free (includes Camden County Library)

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There is no doubt that overdue fines and replacement fees present a significant barrier to use for those patrons who are most in need of library services, particularly children of low-income families and the elderly. ALA supports the idea of equal access to all, as noted in its core values statement: "All information resources that are provided directly or indirectly by the library, regardless of technology, format, or methods of delivery, should be readily, equally, and equitably accessible to all library users."

Mapping Fine-Free Libraries

The Urban Libraries Council (ULC) is "an innovation and impact tank of North America's leading public library systems." It fosters "cutting-edge research and strategic partnerships to elevate the power of libraries as essential, transformative institutions for the 21st-century" and compiles a map of fine-free public libraries in the U.S. and Canada that is updated regularly. It currently includes 128 systems.

Curtis Rogers, ULC's director of communications, describes some of the rationale behind libraries choosing to go fine-free and the different approaches they take:

By a wide margin, the most common reason that libraries are explaining their decision to go fine-free is that it will remove unfair barriers to library access for youth and patrons from disadvantaged backgrounds. A common, related driver is increasing engagement with the library and inviting users back who had been shut out because of fines. Some libraries have also cited that the cost to collect and oversee overdue fines did not justify the revenue generated by the fines-and they have found that eliminating fines saves on money and staff time. Several of the larger library systems have noted that overdue materials fines were generating a negligible percentage of their annual budget (sometimes less than 1%).

Rogers explains ULC's findings on the differing ways libraries are implementing fine-free programs, which are identified on its map: "Some libraries cease overdue fines on books, but still use them for DVDs, movies and other content. Some libraries have ceased overdue fines for youth materials, while others have done so for all patrons. Each community and each library is unique, and so the libraries' fine policies are unique as well. Sometimes the policies are implemented on a temporary or trial basis. Several libraries have fine-free summers, or months."

There is no right or wrong answer to going fine-free. Whether or not to implement such a program and how to do so are entirely up to the individual library-and are influenced by the users and usage profiles of its constituency. What works for the Boston Public Library may or may not work for the MidPointe Library System in Ohio. Each library should investigate not only its current user base, but also the community it supports in order to determine the correct approach to going fine-free.

Fine-Free Increases Library Usage

Linda Devlin is the director of the Camden County Library System in New Jersey. The system serves 334,343 residents in 26 communities throughout the county. Devlin describes the libraries' mission as providing "access to information, services, and opportunities that empower, enrich and enhance the quality of life for all." Its management team aims to remove roadblocks to that access: "We saw overdue fines as a barrier that was discouraging or preventing many residents from using the library, particularly vulnerable populations who would often benefit the most from our services. We realized that most of us had the financial means to pay library fines. However, others could make one mistake and be restricted from the use of library resources simply because they could not afford to pay their fines." Devlin adds, "The Library eliminated overdue fines for items checked out on children's cards in 2016 and saw an increase in borrowing and library use among children."

As of July 1, 2019, the Camden County Library System went fine-free except for "two high-demand collections with limited availability: museum passes and Grab and Go items (extra copies of high demand books and DVDs with a three-day loan)." Materials on loan from other libraries are also not included.

Devlin reinforces the clear benefits of eliminating fines, noting the following statistics from the first 3 weeks since July 1:

Number of previously blocked patrons who renewed their accounts: 38

Number of items returned by patrons who were previously blocked: 75 items returned by 14 patrons

Number of checkouts by patrons who were previously blocked: 812 checkouts by 143 patrons

Number of overdue items that were returned: 239 (significantly higher than the same time period last year)

"The change has been enthusiastically received by the community," Devlin says. "People are unexpectedly surprised when they find out they don't owe the Library any money. This is resulting in a surge of positive feedback and press about Library services, which is invaluable."

Patrons' Positive Reactions

Some library systems have only eliminated overdue fines on children's materials, while others offer amnesty periods during which users may return overdue items with no fines charged. Still others waive fines in return for food items, while some have dropped the amount to mere pennies per day per item.

The Denver Public Library (DPL) is a good example of how fines may be implemented differently depending on the age group. DPL has "never charged late fees for seniors, and in 2008, the library stopped collecting fines for [children's] materials, and in 2014 for young adult materials," says Michelle Jeske, Denver city librarian.

Jeske elaborates on the impact of moving to a fine-free environment: "Our customers love the new fabulous fine free change, and they have told us so, via messages, comments and actions. As of April 1, 22% of customers who had fines forgiven have re-engaged with the library in some form-that's 23,000 customers being welcomed back into our spaces."

Jeske continues, "Too often, fines penalize the most vulnerable families and individuals who can least afford them; we want to reverse this trend and get community members back into our buildings to use materials and enhance their quality of life and education."

Districts in northern Illinois, Massachusetts, and Ohio have been in the news for going fine-free, while libraries in communities such as San Jose, Calif., have drastically lowered daily fines. Regardless of whether a library decides to eliminate fines altogether or just for certain segments of patrons, it should definitely place a magnifying glass on the community it supports to assess whether it is creating barriers preventing library use within that community.

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Libraries Are Increasing Usage by Going Fine-Free

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Through the years, public librarians have struggled with the idea of charging fines and fees for late, lost, and damaged materials. Today, many libraries have decided to eliminate certain fines and/or fees. How they remove them, for whom, and for what types of materials vary from library to library.

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Creating an Actionable Plan for Information Equity

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Link to informational page: https://www.camdencountylibrary.org/lvcc

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Literacy Volunteers of Camden County (LVCC) provides free one-on-one and small group tutoring to Camden County adults at the lowest literacy levels. Tutoring is learner-centered and goal-oriented, geared toward the needs of each individual student.

Types of programs:

English as a Second Language (ESL)

Basic Literacy tutoring in math and reading

Topical Workshops in Financial Literacy, Family Literacy, Digital Literacy, & Citizenship Prep

If you would like to join this initiative please register to become a student or tutor today.

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Literacy Volunteers of Camden County (LVCC) provides free one-on-one and small group tutoring to Camden County adults at the lowest literacy levels. Tutoring is learner-centered and goal-oriented, geared toward the needs of each individual student.

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Rosy Wagner, MLIS (she/her/hers)
Lifelong Learning Librarian
rwagner@bcls.lib.nj.us
(609)267-9660 ext.3046

Feel free to reach out with questions about Burlington County Library System's initiatives or just to chat about information equity!

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Ashley Mitchell (she/hers)
Principal Library Assistant - Technical Services
MS/LIS Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
amitchell@camdencountylibrary.org
856-772-1636 x7343

Please feel free to ask me any questions you have about anything that I spoke about during today's keynote!

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The practice of arbitrarily denying or limiting financial services to specific neighborhoods. Generally because its residents are people of color or poor. (Encyclopedia of Chicago)

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Redlining is the practice of arbitrarily denying or limiting financial services to specific neighborhoods, generally because its residents are people of color or are poor. While discriminatory practices existed in the banking and insurance industries well before the 1930s, the New Deal's Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) instituted a redlining policy by developing color-coded maps of American cities that used racial criteria to categorize lending and insurance risks. New, affluent, racially homogeneous housing areas received green lines while black and poor white neighborhoods were often circumscribed by red lines denoting their undesirability. Banks and insurers soon adopted the HOLC's maps and practices to guide lending and underwriting decisions. Further, the Federal Housing Administration, created in 1934, also used the HOLC's methods to assess locations for federally insured new housing construction.

Like other forms of discrimination, redlining had pernicious and damaging effects. Without bank loans and insurance, redlined areas lacked the capital essential for investment and redevelopment. As a result, after World War II, suburban areas received preference for residential investment at the expense of poor and minority neighborhoods in cities like Chicago. The relative lack of investment in new housing, rehabilitation, and home improvement contributed significantly to the decline of older urban neighborhoods and compounded Chicago's decline in relation to its suburbs.

Redlining's negative effects remained largely unrecognized by policymakers until the mid-1960s. Banking practices were the first to receive congressional scrutiny. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited housing discrimination and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 required the release of data on bank lending. Unsatisfied by the practical results of these laws, community activists in Chicago spearheaded further reform, leading the nation in identifying and addressing the redlining issue. In the early 1970s, the Citizens Action Program, a crossracial group of community leaders from the South Side, developed a strategy of "greenlining" by asking residents to deposit savings only in banks that pledged to reinvest funds in urban communities. Chicago organizers were also instrumental in lobbying Congress to pass the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA), which required banks to lend in areas from which they accepted deposits. The law had limited effect until the National Training and Information Center in Chicago, led by Gale Cincotta, put public pressure on Chicago banks to lend to distressed neighborhoods. Cincotta's group successfully negotiated $173 million in CRA agreements from three major downtown banks in 1984, settlements that served as models for other cities.

The extent of progress in ending redlining in the insurance industry remains an ongoing debate. In 1968, the President's National Advisory Panel on Insurance in Riot-Affected Areas found that insurance underwriting manuals explicitly instructed agents to use racial data in determining risk. While states passed laws prohibiting insurance redlining, federal legislation has never directly addressed the issue. Court cases, however, have forced change in both the banking and insurance industries. In the 1990s, prominent banks and insurance firms have settled several major lawsuits, agreeing to change their business practices to remove discriminatory policies and procedures.

D. Bradford Hunt

Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. 1985.

Squires, Gregory D., Larry Bennett, Kathleen McCourt, and Philip Nyden. Chicago: Race, Class, and the Response to Urban Design. 1987.

Squires, Gregory D., ed. Insurance Redlining: Disinvestment, Reinvestment, and the Evolving Role of Financial Institutions. 1997.

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Redlining is the practice of arbitrarily denying or limiting financial services to specific neighborhoods, generally because its residents are people of color or are poor. While discriminatory practices existed in the banking and insurance industries well before the 1930s, the New Deal's Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) instituted a redlining policy by developing color-coded maps of American cities that used racial criteria to categorize lending and insurance risks.

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Information Redlining is a systematic denial of equitable access to information, information services, and information retrieval methods.

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This past June, in my first address before ALA's membership as executive director, I outlined three urgencies facing the library and information science field: expanding digital and data access; rapidly diversifying the racial composition of the LIS workforce; and preserving library services by cultivating new stakeholders and partnerships.

In my most recent column, I called out equitable information access as a matter of social justice and questioned how ALA and its collective constituency might work even more intentionally to eradicate information poverty.

I want to pick up this discussion. Let's look at the pervasive and persistent inequities in information and digital access-and the degree to which they are profoundly raced and classed-as an instance of what I call information redlining.

Redlining is "the practice of arbitrarily denying or limiting financial services to specific neighborhoods, generally because its residents are people of color or are poor," according to Encyclopedia of Chicago.

Information redlining, as I am asserting it, is the systematic denial of equitable access to information, information services, and information retrieval methods.

Though this definition is my own, in researching other occurrences of the term, I discovered references to scholarship in the mid-1990s by researchers Marvin Anderson, Gary Bass, Patrice McDermott, and Henry Perritt, who forecast the increasing dependence on digital access and formats. Their writings argue that information redlining consists of, but is not limited to, not only how low-income, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), and rural communities access information, but what information is most readily available and discoverable by these groups.

In September, a study from Deutsche Bank called America's Racial Gap and Big Tech's Closing Window showed that 76% of the nation's Black residents and 62% of Latinx residents are slated to be shut out of or underprepared for 86% of US jobs by 2045. They are experiencing a "racial tech gap" that threatens their future economic mobility. The researchers observed that Black and Latinx households are a decade behind white households in broadband access. The study states: "If this digital racial gap is not addressed, in one generation alone, digitization could render the country's minorities into an unemployment abyss."

ALA and the nation's libraries have a primary role to play in closing this gap. In fact, I believe countering information redlining is at the center of the next wave of the civil rights movement that's already under way.

The Association's recent release " Built by E-Rate: A Case Study of Two Tribally-Owned Fiber Networks and the Role of Libraries in Making It Happen " illustrates how tribal libraries have used the federal E-Rate program to bring high-speed internet to sovereign nations in New Mexico. It's just one of many examples of how we can bring awareness to an area that urgently demands investment and advocacy.

The persistence of the coronavirus pandemic continues to expose the degree to which societal inequities are inextricably linked. Information disparities beget education and employment disparities; education and employment disparities beget economic, health, and housing disparities; economic, health, and housing disparities beget justice system and incarceration disparities; and justice system and incarceration disparities circle back to create information disparities.

The last link in this cycle-the relationship between justice system and incarceration inequities and information disparity-will be the focus of my next column. Until then.

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Ending Information Redlining | American Libraries Magazine

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Let's look at the pervasive and persistent inequities in information and digital access-and the degree to which they are profoundly raced and classed-as an instance of what I call information redlining-the systematic denial of equitable access to information, information services, and information retrieval methods.

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Vendor website. "The Library Document Station™ is the first full-service, do-it-all document station designed specifically for public libraries. Small enough to put on a counter, and more versatile than a standard copier or scanner, the Library Document Station is a complete self service solution."

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This solution fulfills an essential library service by enabling patrons to scan and transfer all types of documents, photos and materials.
MARTINA KOMINIAREK EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
BUCKS COUNTY FREE LIBRARY Scanning, Copying and Faxing LIBRARY DOCUMENT STATION™ EnvisionWare offers the first fu…

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Library Document Station™

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Camden County Library
https://www.camdencountylibrary.org/hotspot

Burlington County Library
https://www.bcls.lib.nj.us/tablet-lending

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Camden County Library?

Long Branch Free Public Library
https://www.longbranchlib.org/social-work-and-divesity

Somerset County Library System of New Jersey
https://sclsnj.org/using-our-libraries/social-services-support/

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Camden County Library
https://www.camdencountylibrary.org/reserve-virtual-meeting-room

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LinkedinLearning

KnowledgeCity

Brainfuse

Creative Bug

Universal Class -- OverDrive

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Deutsche Bank’s study (2020): America’s Racial Gap and Big Tech’s Closing Window (bit.ly/DBstudy) showed that 76% of the nation’s Black residents and 62% of Latinx residents are slated to be shut out of or underprepared for 86% of US jobs by 2045.

Black and Latinx groups are experiencing a “racial tech gap” that threatens their future economic mobility. The researchers observed that Black and Latinx households are a decade behind white households in broadband access.

The study states: “If this digital racial gap is not addressed, in one generation alone, digitization could render the country’s minorities into an unemployment abyss.”

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Opening Slides - Information Equity Conference