Frequently Asked Questions

Surprisingly, fines don’t work the way you might think they do. Paying fines for overdue materials doesn’t stop people from keeping their items past the due date. It does prevent people who need libraries the most from checking items out, such as families and people struggling financially.

No, we will still charge for library materials that aren’t returned or are damaged. When an item is 28 days overdue it will automatically be set to ‘lost’. If the item isn’t returned or paid for within three weeks after being set to lost, the account will be referred to our debt collection agency and an additional fee will be added to the account.

Most libraries that have eliminated overdue fines have had no indication of hold times increasing. As one library director put it, “Prior to going fine free those who could afford it were willing to just pay the fine." More people now say, "I’ll return my book on time so others can have it.” WPL will keep an eye on this and if we get different results we’ll look at options to help solve long wait times.

Revenue from fines is a very small percentage of our budget. We believe this move will bring patrons back, bring in new patrons, and improve goodwill and outweigh any financial loss.

We believe in all the years we’ve charged patrons for late materials, no one has become more responsible because of those fines. In fact, if you look at the question about holds, you’ll see not having fines encourages patrons to think of others.

You’re in luck. We will have a donation box available at both of our locations. If you really want to give us money, we’ll take it!

They will still show up on your account. Contact the circulation department and we'll be happy to waive them for you. This doesn’t apply to lost or damaged materials or to the fee if you were sent to debt collection. You will still be responsible for those fees.