GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Following suit of major Midwest cities like Chicago and Detroit, a Grand Haven library recently became a "fine free" facility.
Loutit District Library, located on Columbus Avenue near the courthouse, eliminated late fees beginning last month.
Late fees account for less than 1% of the library budget and only present barriers to people with limited incomes, disabilities and transportation issues, Director John Martin said.
"This is not what public library service is about," Martin said. "We should be there to encourage lifelong learning. We should not be putting up barriers to prevent people from accessing information."
Loutit is the first library in Ottawa County to completely remove late fees. Other West Michigan fine-free facilities include Kent District Library, Flat River Community Library and Allegan District Library.
"Having a late fee has no bearing on whether or not that book comes back to you in time," Martin said. "The late fee is simply a punishment."
Scores of libraries across the country have also changed their late fee policies. Several West Michigan libraries, including Herrick District Library, have enacted partial fine-free policies, according to the endlibraryfines.info database.
Herrick District Library wants to remove all barriers for children and teens that want to check items out, said Diane Kookier, the library's north branch director.
"We don't want late fees to stand in the way of children or teens who want to read," Kookier said.
Of the 42 libraries in the Lakeland Library Cooperative, 16 have some sort of fine-free options, Cooperative Director Carol Dawe said.
This is a trend that will likely grow, according to Martin.
"You want [people] to come to the library and get a warm fuzzy feeling that they want to come back and they want to bring their kids back," he said.
Loutit District Library will continue to charge for materials that are never returned after around nine weeks.
Other headlines from 13 ON YOUR SIDE:
RELATED VIDEO:
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
