The Sylvan Lake Municipal Library has announced that they are doing away with overdue book fines and pardoning anybody who currently has a book that’s past due.

What started during the pandemic to help people save money has turned into a permanent thing, says Library Director Andrea Newland.

“Both myself and Jeri Wolf, my assistant director, it’s something we’ve been very passionate about…right now we aren’t charging overdue fines and I didn’t want that to come back and be a sudden surprise to people, but yes we’re kind of giving that relief cause some people have lost their jobs, some people are struggling financially, and then suddenly out of the blue we’re going to be charging overdue fines again once that switch gets slipped back on, so I thought now is the time. If we’re going to go overdue fines free, we’re just going to get rid of it now going forward.”

She says they wanted to give people a break because, during tough times, people turn to the library for help.

“We find when times are tough financially, people use their public library more than ever. So there’s lot of people coming in, doing their resume writing, applying for jobs, things like that are happening, so we don’t need that extra barrier of ‘oh by the way you also have like a five dollar charge on your account.’ So let’s get rid of that stuff and make life easier for people where we can.”

Newland says in lieu of the small revenue generated by the fines, they encourage people to donate when they can, take advantage of all of their wonderful free programs and events they offer, and they are also planning on partnering with some local businesses in the area.

You will still be charged for lost or damaged materials.

More information can be found by clicking here to go to sylvanlibrary.prl.ab.ca.