MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Montpelier’s Kellogg-Hubbard Library has stopped levying late fees on overdue books.
The late fee used to be 25 cents a day, but on July 1, thanks to business support, donors, and their ongoing book sale, they’ve turned a page.
Library co-director Carolyn Brennan tells WCAX-TV the lack of late fees makes the library “really truly free for people.”
She says the library is joining the larger, national push to go fine-free.
“The library is meant to be the equitable place,” Brennan said. “The library is the place where anybody can come in with no expectations or prerequisites and just exist in this place and borrow freely, and you really shouldn’t have to come in here with a set of worries.”
The library does limit how many times someone can renew a book, and if it’s clear someone has just walked away with one, they do have a billing system.
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