The City of Sydney council has decided not to impose library fines after a trial found the system less effective in ensuring the return of borrowed items. Photograph: Alamy stock photo<\/p>\n
The City of Sydney council has abolished all library fines after an eight-month trial revealed they do not work as an incentive for people to return books. <\/p>\n
Three times as many overdue items were returned to the councils libraries during the no-fine trial period, compared with the 12 months before the trial. <\/p>\n
The lord mayor, Clover Moore, said fines often had a detrimental effect and frightened borrowers into never returning overdue items. This new approach encourages positive community responsibility and sharing, rather than penalising people, she said. <\/p>\n
More than 60,000 items were returned between July last year and February, some of them decades old. <\/p>\n
Many of the overdue items came from the self-help section, including books on decluttering and cleaning up. But two copies of Mark Chopper Reads 2001 book, Chopper 10 and a Half: The Popcorn Gangster, were still missing despite being 14 years overdue. <\/p>\n
Under the new scheme, those with an overdue book will have their membership suspended and will be barred from borrowing until the item is returned. <\/p>\n
Sophie Hicks Lloyd, a Sydney library member who used the new system to return books she had borrowed for her children, told Guardian Australia: I just got an email from them saying we had overdue books and that we could return them now with no fine, and that prompted me to act. <\/p>\n
She said the abolition of fines would encourage her to use the library more frequently. Raising that level of trust between us and the library, or the local government, instills a sense of community. We go to the library about once every two months and I think this means we will go more often. <\/p>\n
Im pretty sure most library members feel a sense of loyalty to their library and, deep down, we all want to return the books. A little friendly reminder from them is all it takes. <\/p>\n
The City of Sydney runs nine libraries in inner Sydney, and has more than 415,000 items available for borrowing. <\/p>\n
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City of Sydney scraps library fines after trial shows reminders work better - The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The City of Sydney council has decided not to impose library fines after a trial found the system less effective in ensuring the return of borrowed items. Photograph: Alamy stock photo The City of Sydney council has abolished all library fines after an eight-month trial revealed they do not work as an incentive for people to return books. Three times as many overdue items were returned to the councils libraries during the no-fine trial period, compared with the 12 months before the trial. Continue reading