Abolish Fines at LA County Library
This is the ethical path forward.
Supervisor Janice Hahn has proposed to make the LA County Library system fine-free. The Board motion follows similar efforts by libraries nationwide. From the West Coast to the East Coast, from the Midwest to the South, libraries are abandoning overdue fines. This is the right thing to do. Imposing economic penalties for overusing library materials creates barriers between users, libraries, and staff. During the current Coronavirus pandemic, public libraries serve as crucially important resource centers. We should support access to materials, not deter use. I call on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to abolish fines for late materials at LA County Library.
I’ve been a library user for over 40 years, a fellow worker in libraries for 6 years, and a lifelong library advocate. I’m a practicing urban planner who returned to graduate school to get an MLIS degree because I realized planners could learn much from the librarians about creating welcoming and inclusive public spaces. In these various roles, I’ve seen what brings people into libraries and what keeps them away. Penalties repel users.
Here’s what I know from my lived experience:
Fines create access barriers that discourage library use.
Fines disproportionately impact working-class communities of color, low-income families and students, low- and fixed-income seniors, people with disabilities, residents experiencing homelessness, formerly incarcerated users, undocumented residents, and other vulnerable library users.
Fines stress users.
Fines push away community members while public libraries — as I’ve seen firsthand — are the most trusted spaces of local government.
Fines degrade trust in the library.
Fines feel punitive. As Frances Chung wrote last month, fines turn the library into a “punisher.”
Fines are not an ethical revenue source.
Fines themselves are expensive to collect, as the Board motion observes.
Fines are too often imposed on folks who are less likely to challenge the system, whereas louder voices enjoy discretion and waivers.
Stated bluntly: Fines. Don’t. Work.
Today’s reality places library fines in a new category of bad public policy. Consider the impact of library fines in these tumultuous times. COVID-19 hit hardest in working-class communities of color, resulting in the devastating loss of jobs, savings, housing, and, tragically, too many lives. These days, every cent counts. Many public libraries, meanwhile, pivoted into curbside resource centers in the COVID era. Whether it’s for casual reading, escape through entertainment, writing cover letters for jobs, or researching eviction defense, the array of materials freely available through libraries helps people push forward. Imposing economic penalties for extended use of library materials during the pandemic exacerbates the daily struggles in our LA County community. We should be supporting more access to library materials, not inhibiting access through fines.
A more equitable future is possible. It begins with eradicating library fines. Erase all existing fines on record. Dismantle the economic penalty system in the library. Reset relationships. Start anew.
For me, this is not only a matter of public policy. This one’s personal.
I grew up a loner kid discovering new worlds in the Montebello Public Library. This city branch in my hometown of Montebello, CA, has long been a part of the LA County Library system. Montebello Library was like a second home. I want young people today to have the same experience in County libraries without encountering the embarrassment and exclusion that come with fines.
During college, I worked as a clerk at LAPL’s magnificent Central Library in Downtown LA. Central Library is where I learned how to work with the public, a skill that helped me years later in urban planning. As every Central Library user knows, you have access to seemingly endless materials and superbly knowledgeable staff. No doubt this helped my studies. But among the many great memories at Central Library, I also remember times at the Circulation Desk having to deliver demoralizing news. Telling families they couldn’t check out books because of fines felt immoral. I had to tell children that lost, misplaced, or “borrowed” library cards by your big bro unfortunately don’t assuage the accrued fines staring back at me callously from my CARL station. I’ll never forget the look of humiliation and sadness on their faces. Fines are a policy choice. I want us to choose not to be cruel. Years later, I was relieved to see LAPL abolish library fines.
Eventually, I became an Embedded Urban Planner in South Central LA. In this role, I saw the importance of community libraries up close. I worked for over a decade on the ground in Florence-Firestone. My responsibilities included building bridges with this community. I brought people of all ages into LA County’s Regional Planning processes. We’re talking about community members who were long averse to planning due to its legacy of inequitable past practices. To develop relationships built on trust, my work had to be done in community spaces. By embedding myself in the community, I soon realized that the most trusted space of local government was the library — specifically, the Florence and Graham library branches of the LA County Library system. These spaces were de facto community centers in Florence-Firestone. Everyone trusted these LA County Library branches. I went on to celebrate Florence and Graham in a FREE community history book we co-wrote with residents. A few years later, the grassroots organizing to save Florence Library demonstrated community library love at its strongest.
We need to uplift the library. We need to enhance information access for all. A commitment to library fines is a policy choice that runs counter to supporting libraries as community centers.
In summary, if my lived experience has taught me anything, it’s this:
Fines limit access to new worlds of discovery in the safe, supportive community spaces that are public libraries.
There is an ethical path forward.
The LA County Board of Supervisors must do right by our communities.
Abolish library fines.
A version of this essay was submitted as a public comment in SUPPORT of the Board motion to make LA County Library fine-free.
