PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Pinellas County libraries are no longer charging fines for overdue materials, as of October 1. In doing so, they are joining a growing list of public libraries around the country and the Bay area who have opted to go fine-free in the past few years.

Hillsborough County eliminated overdue library fees beginning in 2018. Manatee County did the same thing a year ago. Pasco County Libraries also did the same thing in early 2020. And Citrus County has never imposed such a fee, says Phyllis Gorshe, the Library Director for the Dunedin Public Library.

“Removing overdue fines kind of removes barriers so that people can use the library,” says Gorshe, adding that kids in particular were cut off from using the vast materials that libraries now offer because of the fines incurred on their library cards.

Though overdue materials will no longer mandate an automatic fine in Pinellas libraries, accounts will still be blocked when items are 10 days overdue. And all fines owed due to overdue materials prior to Oct. 1 have now been eliminated. 

At the time that Hillsborough County eliminated fines for overdue materials in January 2018, there were approximately 16,000 people who had been excluded from using the free services that the library had to offer because of those fines, says Chely Cantrell, the Library Brand Innovation Officer with the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library.

“In researching the possibility of eliminating fines we learned that it was costing the library more to collect, handle and process fines than what was being collected,” Cantrell told Spectrum Bay News 9 in an email. “We wanted access to our resources to be even more equitable and so we changed the way that we hold people accountable.”

The New York Public Library system, the largest in the country, also did away with late fees and cleared patrons debts on Oct.1.

Discussions about eliminating fines for overdue materials has taken place over the past couple of years in Pinellas County, but when the Pinellas County Library Cooperative opted to finally make the decision to go fee-free earlier this year, the decision was not unanimous.

Opposing it were the librarians at East Lake and Palm Harbor Public Libraries, for a specific reason. Unlike the other 12 libraries operating in Pinellas, East Lake and Palm Harbor are in unincorporated parts of the county. Though they share most of the same policies and items like library cards as the other locations in the county, the two libraries also maintain their own autonomy.

Gene Coppola, the Library Director at Palm Harbor Library, says eliminating late fees is conservatively removing $20,000 annually from his budget, the third biggest revenue stream he takes in annually.

“Some people may think that when you look at a budget of about $1.4 million, $20,000 might not seem like a lot,” he says. “To me, $20,000 is a lot of money. That’s a lot of books and DVDs and stuff like that that we were receiving on annual basis. And now it’s gone.”

To try to make up the difference, Coppola is getting creative. Earlier this month the Palm Harbor Public Library held a 13-hour telethon which brought in $12,800.

Gorshe says the Cooperative made the right move.

“We just want to encourage and build that relationship between libraries and communities that you know, this is a welcoming place and you can use these resources in person and online,” she says.