Overdue fees are now gone from books and materials borrowed from the Coquitlam Public Library.
And outstanding late charges will be eliminated from customers’ accounts, too, starting this month.
That’s the new year’s resolution from the library that’s making the move to reduce barriers for users.
The decision comes after the Port Moody Public Library Board proposed last fall to axe late fines, which chairperson Daphne Herberts said affects “low-income patrons who often rely on our library.”
The Vancouver Public Library removed its overdue fees in June 2022 to also address affordability and equity while Surrey scraped its fines in 2022; as well, the Burnaby Public Library reported that users returned with the fees gone.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the City Centre and Poirier branches in Coquitlam paused fees on overdue books.
Now, all items are fee-free except:
- Express Books
- Express Movies
- Lendable Laptops
- Inter-library Loans (ILLs)
Fines will remain in place for lost or damaged items, as well as processing fees.
Rachel Burke, Coquitlam Public Library’s manager of E-Branch and Collections said, with the fines now gone, staff believe there may be delays with material circulation; “however, we have heard very positive stories from other public libraries that customers continued to honour item due dates and the impact on other customers and wait times has been minimal,” she said in a news release.
The library also noted the cost to process late fees is more than what it collects from customers.
According to documents that went before Coquitlam council last October at budget time, the library saw 806,306 visits in 2023 — an increase of 279,767 over the previous year and 431,646 more than in 2021; the library had 109,434 cardholders in 2023 and 72,108 program participants.
Last month, the city granted the library $7.2 million to operate in 2025, including $138,000 more for wages and benefits, an additional $91,400 for library collections and $31,000 more for Library Link hours — totalling about 94 per cent of the library’s revenues; salaries and benefits make up 67 per cent of its expenses.
Meanwhile, the library is now in discussion with the municipality about building a third branch, to be located in the new Northeast Community Centre on Burke Mountain.
For more details about the Coquitlam Public Library’s Goodbye, Fines campaign, you can visit the website.
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