News

Springfield Town Library offers fee forgiveness program

By Layla Burke Hastings
[email protected]
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — As the holiday season comes to an end, the Springfield Town Library is keeping the joyous celebrations going after announcing a two-week overdue book fee forgiveness program open to its patrons until Jan 15.

The program allows all fines to be wiped away and for unreturned books to be brought in with waived fees as well.

Springfield Town Library Director Sue Dowdell believes this is a warm way of inviting residents to utilize its numerous resources.

“We want them to come back and feel comfortable using the library again,” said Dowdell in a phone interview with the Eagle Times Thursday.

The library, which sees 100 patrons per day, last offered this same program two years ago and resulted in the majority fees to be forgiven and even a few returned books, according to Dowdell.

“We have done it in the past and we are doing it again because we want our patrons to feel welcomed coming back,” said Dowdell, in regard to the ongoing new arrivals and classic book and technological amenities.

The campaign for fine forgiveness was initially released to the public through letters to patrons and flyers on the front door entrance.

Dowdell has been at the Springfield Town Library since July 2019 and already says she loves her job that involves interacting with patrons. The happiness she has experienced in her short time as director was one of the main reasons why library personnel decided to offer the overdue book fee forgiveness special, according to Dowdell.

The Springfield Town Library’s operating hours are Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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