Albert Lea Public Library eliminates late fees for all materials

ALBERT LEA, Minn. (KTTC) – Many of us may remember the days when you forgot to return your library books on time, so you had to cough up the change to pay for your late fee.

Well, many libraries are actually getting rid of these fees, most recently Albert Lea.

At Monday’s city council meeting, the Albert Lea city council voted unanimously to eliminate late fees for all adult library materials.

Last year, the library got rid of late fees for youth materials and saw a lot of success. It saw a lot more items being checked out and more people signing up for library cards.

The library board presented their findings to the council and library leaders say getting them on board to eliminate all fees went smoothly.

Patrons would still need to pay fees for lost or damaged items, and if you don’t return an item on time, you won’t be able to check out something else until it’s returned.

“We have quite a few patrons whose cards are blocked because they have too many fines, so by eliminating that we hope that we get a lot of those back. We also know there’s people in our community that might stay away from the library because of the fear of getting fines and then not being able to pay them down, so we hope that we get some more card holders as well as increasing circulation,” Director of Albert Lea Public Library Annice Sevett said.

If you return something late and you feel guilty about it, the Friends of the Library in Albert Lea is always accepting donations.

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