Getting fined for being late with your library books is now yesterday's problem.
From this month, Blue Mountains council is closing the book on library fines. As long as you return your overdue items, you won't be fined, no matter how overdue they are.
A council spokeswoman said fines did not provide a strong incentive for people to return items loaned to them and created a barrier to using the library.
The initiative to end fines was made possible through extra funding from the NSW government, through the Renew our Libraries campaign in 2018. It was a joint campaign between Local Government NSW and the NSW Public Libraries Association, which began from a council motion that Cr Romola Hollywood took to the LGNSW conference in 2017. It led to an historic commitment from the state government to increase funding to council-run public libraries by $60 million over four years.
Cr Hollywood said it was "responding to the fact the fines don't necessarily always change human behaviour".
"In fact, if people aren't accumulating library fines, they are more likely to bring their overdue books back when they next come to the library. This is because they don't need to fear or face a financial penalty when they do.
"City of Sydney did a trial and I am pretty sure they found that people eventually did the right thing and returned the book, especially if they knew that someone else needed it. It is a positive rather than punitive approach."
Council has joined a global trend to remove overdue fees. All historical overdue fines will also be waived, but fees will still apply for lost or damaged items, to ensure they can be replaced.
Community, Library and Customer Services manager Vicki Edmunds said fines from overdue items had raised $26,000 last year and $37,000 the previous financial year.
Instead of a fine Ms Edmunds said community members will be sent "a series of reminders (mostly by email) then once the books are six weeks late, we send a final reminder that contains the cost of the items in case they are lost".
Library staff will temporarily suspend borrowing privileges with physical items when books are late but would allow people with overdue physical items to borrow from the digital collections.
"We did this as we did not wish to discriminate against people who may not be able to attend the library in person to return items due to the pandemic," she said.
"Our digital collection is eBooks, eAudio books, eMagazines and beamafilm - plus a range of childrens online resources eg: Storybox. We will also allow people to still use computers and printers."
Mayor Mark Greenhill called abolishing fines the "final barrier to equitable participation".
"The provision of free access to books and resources for entertainment and learning, is the key to a caring and healthy community. At a time when many people are doing it tough, this is a great decision."
Blue Mountains is following the City of Sydney model. But unlike Sydney, there would be no end-date to the announcement (Sydney's system ends on June 30, 2021).
Council CEO Dr Rosemary Dillon said library staff would now "spend less time administering fines, and more time providing services and helping customers with information".
"We want our community to be able to access resources for learning and recreation. Families, workers, those who are sick, self-isolating or simply time-poor, will now be able to enjoy the huge benefits of library membership without the worry of any overdue fines."
Cr Greenhill said Blue Mountains libraries were consistently innovating, from free movie streaming to book club kits, from seniors' programs, to coding for kids.
"They reinvented services through COVID-19 with Pop-Up Library @ Home and a huge range of children's programs."
A maximum of 30 items can be borrowed at a time. Restrictions apply to HSC and early literacy kit collections. Most collections are available for three weeks. DVDs, print magazines and the HSC collection are seven-day loans.
