Ferguson Library Goes 'Fine Free' For Good

STAMFORD, CT — In an effort to remove all barriers from access to library materials, the Ferguson Library in Stamford has permanently eliminated all late fees.

Before the pandemic, there were pushes to eliminate such fees, but the last 18 months allowed the library to experiment.

Ferguson Library President Alice Knapp said a study was conducted before the pandemic which looked at where late fees were located in Stamford, and interestingly enough, they were in areas where there isn't a library.

"First we were thinking we'd just go fine free for children, knowing that out of all of our users they have the least control over when they can go to the library," Knapp said. "But during the pandemic, one of the things that happened is we [temporarily] got rid of fines because we had to quarantine material [for three days], and it seemed so onerous for someone to never be sure of when they were going to be fined or not when they had no control over when we were going to discharge an item."

Knapp said that the library found that materials, like books and DVDs, were returned promptly. She added that national studies in recent years have pointed towards the elimination of late fees, because they're not as effective as people think.

"We were able to experiment with that because of the pandemic, and people did return books within the week that it was due, even if it was not on that date. We thought about why should we have these fines and why have these barriers? And once you have a fine of $5 or more, you can't take out books. We want to take away those barriers," Knapp said.

The Board of Trustees for the library recently agreed to the permanent change. However, there will still be fines if users lose or return damaged items.

Knapp said the elimination of the fees is one of the silver linings of the pandemic for the library, as is the addition of virtual programming. She said that attendance stayed consistent with how it was prior to COVID.

Going forward, Knapp said many library events will have a virtual component so people can enjoy from the comfort of their own homes.

For more information on Ferguson Library, click here.