Late Fees Are Now (Mostly) A Thing Of The Past At Moorestown Library

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Moorestown Library began waiving late fees for most items borrowed from its library on Monday, Library Director Joan Serpico told Patch.

Moving forward, and so long as no one else is waiting for a particular item that is late, the library will send three courtesy notices to customers who do not return an item on time, she said.

"A bill will be sent when an item is 28 days overdue. The patron’s library card will be blocked at that time," Serpico noted.

The library will still charge late fees for items that are lost and not returned, as well as museum passes and items received via interlibrary loans that are returned late, she added. Late fees that the library assessed prior to Monday, except for those museum passes and items received via interlibrary loan have also been waived, according to Serpico.

Fines from late fees make up fewer than 1 percent of the Moorestown Library's budget, she said.

"We expect the drop in revenue will be offset by other savings like the staff time needed to manage late fees and, perhaps, donations from happy patrons," Serpico added.

"Libraries that have eliminated late fees have consistently reported that there is no significant negative impact on the return of materials, circulation of materials increases, [library] card registrations increase, lost materials and patrons return, staff morale improves [and] patron satisfaction increases," she continued. "We look forward to the same at Moorestown Library. "

The new rule is consistent with "the American Library Association’s policy statement that the 'imposition of monetary fines a barrier to the provision of library and information services,'" according to Serpico.

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