Reading to reduce library fines allows kids to check out books again

It took months, but 13-year-old Jessica and 14-year-old Shannon cleared their library fines by reading for hours. The two teens are thrilled that they can take books home again, and now they’re regulars at the weekly teen discussion group of the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Franklinton branch.

Our branch is in a high-poverty neighborhood, where the median family income hovers around $23,000 and the high school dropout rate is as high as 60 percent. A few years ago, branch manager Brenda Dutton realized that over half the kids under the age of 12 couldn’t check out books because of mounting fines on their library cards. Since an existing library practice allows adults to reduce their fines by working, why not create a program that lets kids do the same by reading? In order to participate, cardholders must first return all overdue items so that a complete tally of their fines can be calculated. Library cards are blocked if fines exceed $5, and since overdue DVDs or videos cost $1 a day, some fines can be very high. (Fees for lost or damaged items can’t be reduced by reading).

Kids and teens come to the library at a scheduled time and are directed to one of our meeting rooms, where they’re greeted by a library staffer who records their arrival. They read in a room filled with a diverse collection of books that appeal to all ages. Little ones love picture books such as Please, Baby, Please (S & S, 2002) by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, first to third graders enjoy the Junie B. Jones (Random) series by Barbara Park, and the older ones really get into J. K. Rowling’s latest, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Scholastic, 2005). Graphic novels and magazines are also big hits, and a library staffer or a volunteer reads aloud in a corner to those too young to read.

Mike, a library staffer, offered to read Tears of a Tiger (Atheneum, 1994) by Sharon Draper to a noisy teenager named Lizzy, who was reading to reduce her library fines. Lizzy was glued to the story, and since then, she has checked out several more of Draper’s books. Instead of talking about her noise level in the library, she and Mike now discuss new teen books.

It’s particularly gratifying to see a mother and her children attend the program together. A parent reading to a little one, perhaps with a sibling reading independently alongside them, gives our staff the chance to promote reading as a family affair. Kids can read for as little as 15 minutes—or the equivalent of $2—or as long as two hours. Naturally, a student can keep coming back until his fine is paid off.

Our library staff constantly pushes books and the importance of reading, and kids who come from families without adequate financial resources are relieved that they can still take out books—by reading! Parents from families who can afford fines like the idea of teaching their kids about responsibility.

Reading to reduce or clear fines became a regular feature at our Summer Reading Club and was so popular that most of our 20 branches and the main library now offer the program year-round. In May 2003, 63,000, or 45 percent, of all kids under the age of 12 had blocked cards. By the end of the summer, 1,000 of those kids had cleared their fines by reading. Three years later, over 3,000 kids have cleared their fines. Although the statistics aren’t astonishingly high, the goal of the program is to give kids who want to take library materials home a chance to pay off their fines and start checking out books again.

Although reading to reduce fines doesn’t generate revenue for our library, it reinforces what we want children and their families to do—read—and it rewards them for doing it. While hosting the program, a mother thanked me for providing this service because she couldn’t afford to pay for the fines. The program offered her a way to keep taking the reading experience home, and her kids are grateful that they can continue doing so.