Youth members of the Drenthe libraries will no longer receive a fine if they return their borrowed book too late. The measure applies to young people up to the age of 18. The libraries hope that by abolishing the fines, young people will return to the library more often.
“The first present for the Children’s Book Week, which also started today,” says Lammie van der Tuuk, library manager at Bilbionet Drenthe, the organization of collaborating libraries. Although the timing is not coincidental, the occasion is less festive, says Van der Tuuk. “Unfortunately, we also notice in Drenthe that low literacy is increasing, that more and more children are leaving schools with a language delay. Especially from primary school.”
It is the task of libraries to lower the barrier to reading and the library as much as possible, she says. “Reading is the cure for language development.” Although a fine often only concerns relatively small amounts (Van der Tuuk himself speaks of late fees), it can still make a difference in the choice of library membership, Van der Tuuk explains.
“If you have three children as parents, and you have borrowed four books for all three children and they are late again, then you as mom or dad have to open your wallet again. That is sometimes a reason for parents to say : ‘If you don’t return them on time, I will cancel the library.’ We hope to break this by eliminating late fees for children.”
All libraries participate. According to Van der Tuuk, the two were soon on the same page. “In the consultation in which we discussed how important we think it is that as many children as possible read books and that we remove this barrier, every library director in Drenthe said: ‘Yes, we think this is so important, we are going to do it.’
But the measure is not free. For this reason, among other things, the fines continue to apply to adult members of Drenthe libraries. Van der Tuuk estimates that all Drenthe libraries lose around 70,000 euros per year in income. “We are not rich institutions, that’s true. But this comes first. Unfortunately, we are not at the top in the lowest percentage of low literacy. We believe that as libraries we really have a role in this.”
How will the libraries deal with this? “You have to make choices, but it cannot be taken away from something else in one bite, we try to organize it in such a way that we can at least absorb it well.” The abolition of fines for young people takes effect immediately and is indefinite.