Before the library system in St. Paul, Minn., stopped collecting overdue fines in 2019, it was spending $250,000 a year to recoup $225,000. It should be a no-brainer for L.A. County supervisors to eliminate library fines at their Tuesday meeting, as a resolution recommends. If low-income library patrons find the fines untenable, by this reasoning, they should get themselves to the library more regularly. The state of California partially funds almost all public libraries within its borders and has numerous regulations about their practices. AdvertisementLibrary fines are doing neither the public nor the public libraries much good.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 10, 2021 09:56 UTC