Sometimes, the Toronto Public Library system can be tender-hearted, especially when it comes to young borrowers who owe it money.
City libraries collected nearly $3 million in fines last year, but though librarians are taught waiving fines "is permitted only in an exceptional situation," the system forgave more than $375,500 in 2013.
That’s because librarians – besides being allowed to actively shush you - also have the power to waive small fines, or call in a supervisor to negotiate the payment of larger amounts, explains a recent report by Acting City Librarian Anne Bailey.
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The report, requested in May by the Toronto Public Library Board and presented at its meeting last week, says fine-waiving is done for "compassionate reasons"- medical emergencies, severe weather which closed branches, poverty, mobility issues, and "cognitive or mental health challenges" - which prevented people getting materials back to branches on time.
Supervisors offer deals to some delinquent library users, the report says, because this approach, sometimes involving a payment plan, "ensures that some revenue is collected, retains the customer and allows the customer to continue to borrow materials."
Some 35 per cent of customers who had fines waived or reduced in 2013 were children or teens – librarians didn’t want them joining the ranks of 65,805 banned from borrowing for not paying what they owe.
"These are customers who have opted out of library service rather than pay their fines, and a large proportion are children and teens," says the report, estimating 84 per cent of the cut-off accounts are "associated" with young readers.
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The library board was assured, however, that the annual amounts of forgiven fines are declining, and down 12 per cent from 2012.
Some 25 per cent of the 2013 fines waived resulted from errors in assessing the charges, but the library system hopes to eliminate these errors through staff training.
Toronto libraries in 2012 also started charging customers for "holds" placed on books and other materials if these items were not picked up.
This practice was successful, Bailey’s report concludes, because the number of items stranded on shelves by holds not picked up fell from 465,991 in 2012 to 222,194 in 2013, a drop of 52 per cent.
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