Wauwatosa Library Ending Children's Book Fines

WAUWATOSA, WI — The Wauwatosa Public Library is no longer charging visitors late fees for overdue children's books.

Since 2017, Library Board trustees and library staff have been researching eliminating overdue fines as a way to make the library more accessible to the community.

What they found was that small fines do not have any impact on return rates. In the summer of 2019, library staff found that over 70 percent of blocked Wauwatosa Library cards were blocked solely because of overdue fines, even though the card-holders had returned all of their library materials.

According to Library Board members, eliminating overdue fines on Children’s Library materials will likely add $36,000 per year to the Library's portion of the city budget. The impact of this increase on the property tax bill of an average home would be $1.54 per year, or $0.13 per month.

“Part of our library’s mission speaks to equitable access to information and encouraging lifelong discovery. Having overdue fines on children’s items was in conflict with that mission,” Library Board President Bill Andrae in a statement this week.

Library visitors will no longer be assessed overdue fines on Children’s Library materials that are returned late, and existing overdue fines on Children’s Library materials are being waived.

Visitors will still be charged for un-returned items, and they won’t be able to check out any additional materials until they return the items or pay the replacement fee.

The Wauwatosa Library will still issue overdue fines for other materials outside of the Children’s Library. Also, materials from other libraries are subject to that library’s lending policy and may accrue overdue fines.