The Burlington County Library System has reported significant increases in library usage one year after implementing a fine-free policy<\/p>\n
Checkouts rose 36% and thousands of new library cards were issued.<\/p>\n
The policy, which took effect July 1, 2024, eliminated overdue fines for most materials including books, DVDs, CDs, magazines, movies, video games, and technology-on-loan at all branch and member libraries. <\/p>\n
Museum passes, classroom kits, book club sets, and interlibrary loan items still incur late fees.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Burlington County Library System was created more than a century ago to be a resource for all residents and the results we\u2019re seeing show it continues to be successful with that mission,\u201d Burlington County Commissioner Director Felicia Hopson said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe switch to a fine-free policy has helped promote accessibility and equity, and we are pleased to see how the policy is working to bring more individuals and families back to our libraries.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the first year under the new policy, the library system recorded 15,334 new library card registrations and saw a 19% increase in digital checkouts. <\/p>\n
The digital catalog platform Libby\/Overdrive gained 1,600 new users.<\/p>\n
The change has also led to the return of previously lost materials, with library staff reporting a 57% reduction in missing items. <\/p>\n
Before the policy change, over 35,300 cardholders were inactive due to not borrowing materials for more than a year.<\/p>\n
Burlington County Library System Director Ranjna Das emphasized that while overdue fines were eliminated, patrons remain accountable. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe change to fine-free did not equate to \u2018responsibility free.\u2019 Library customers are still being held responsible for the materials they borrow,\u201d Das said. <\/p>\n
The library continues to charge replacement fees for lost items and restricts borrowing privileges for those with overdue materials.<\/p>\n
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Submit Burlington County community news to burlington@njadvancemedia.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n Questions about this post may be directed to Linda O\u2019Brien at lobrien@njadvancemedia.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n Generative AI was used to produce an initial draft of this story, which was reviewed and edited by NJ Advance Media staff.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Burlington County Library System has reported significant increases in library usage one year after implementing a fine-free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[288,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-6361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}