CASSOPOLIS — Thanks to a new district policy, more than 1,000 library patrons across Cass County will have their late fines cleared next month.

Starting Feb. 1, all Cass District Library branches will eliminate late fees for overdue items and will forgive all outstanding fines. The library board approved the change on Jan. 15.

The elimination of late fines comes as a response to an essay, “Resolution on Monetary Library Fines as a Form of Social Inequity,” published by the American Library Association last year that urged libraries to move toward eliminating fines, according to the library board.

For the last several years, late fines have made up less than 1 percent of the Cass District Library’s budget, and due to staff resources being spent tracking down and sending late notices, the library was often losing money on late fines, according to Barbara Gordon, library director. Because of this and the fact that late penalties tend to affect low-income families disproportionately, Gordon said now was the right time for the library to go fine-free.

“A lot of libraries have found that fines basically punish the patrons who are coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds and was really presenting a hindrance to those coming in and using library services. Those are often the people that need library resources the most,” she said. “There is this preconceived notion that late fines are a big source of revenue and do a good job of getting materials back, but libraries are finding that just isn’t true anymore in our modern world. It just didn’t make sense for us anymore, fiscally, and for our area.”

Under the Cass District Library’s new policy, Patrons will be notified when items become seven days overdue. After 14 days, patrons will be notified again, and borrowing privileges will be suspended. At 28 days overdue, patrons will be mailed a final notice, which will serve as a bill detailing the replacement costs of all overdue items, which are subsequently charged to the account. Delinquent accounts $30 or more will be submitted to collections and assessed a nonrefundable $5 charge.

Returning overdue items at any time will remove replacement charges from a patron’s account and will reinstate borrowing privileges. If a $5 collections fee has been added to an account, the fee must be paid before reinstatement of borrowing privileges.

“We just want to see our materials come back to us,” Gordon said. “Without fines, we think people will be more inclined to bring those items back because they know there is not an additional penalty in place.”

The Cass District Library is not the only library to go fine-free. Currently, more than 500 libraries nationwide are now no longer charging late fees. As of Jan. 1, one of the largest library systems in southwest Michigan, the Kalamazoo Public Library, is fine free. More locally, both the Buchanan Public Library and the Van Buren District Library eliminated late fees last year.

Meg Paulette, director of the Buchanan District Library, said the switch to fine-free has been “so far so good.” Though the policy has not been in place long enough to track any significant data about how it has impacted circulation numbers, Paulette said since the switch on Oct. 1, 2019, to several long-lost books were returned to the library.

“There is a misconception that you won’t get stuff back, but we haven’t found that to be the case,” she said. “In the first month, items gone for a long time came back. We were glad to get those items back and get those patrons back as well.”

Now, Paulette said she is happy to hear the Cass District Library is also eliminating late fees.

“I feel great about it,” Paulette said. “At the time [the Buchanan District Library went fee-less], we didn’t really see anyone around this area doing this. It was this blank slate in Michiana. We felt this was the right thing to do, and I’m glad that we were out in front of it. I’m proud that libraries are taking this step.”

Gordon said she is optimistic the switch to fine-free will prove to be as successful in Cass County as it has been in other areas.

“We know that removing fines will allow us to welcome back patrons,” she said. “There is some good momentum going on this side of the state. We also hope that this will encourage some of our other neighboring libraries to consider this policy.”