Various library fees and fines will increase after the county
Board of Supervisors this week approved a resolution designed to
provide
”
better cost recovery
”
for services at the San Benito County Free Library.
ADAM BREEN
Various library fees and fines will increase after the county Board of Supervisors this week approved a resolution designed to provide “better cost recovery” for services at the San Benito County Free Library.
The hikes are expected to align the local fees and fines with those of libraries in neighboring counties and to encourage the prompt return of library materials, which are at a premium at the Fifth Street branch. Another revenue issue, the proposed closure of the library on Saturdays, will be discussed at a later date.
As part of the approved plan, overdue book fines will jump to 25 cents per day from 15 cents per day, with the maximum fine for a book doubling to $6 from $3. Overdue daily fines for digital media remain the same – $1 – though the maximum fee has doubled to $10.
The cost of printing color pages from the Internet at the library will now be $1 per page. The library previously did not charge for that service. The test proctoring fee will jump from $25 per test to $25 per hour for each test.
“The library is not in the business of making money,” Librarian Nora Conte told supervisors during her presentation. “It’s in the business of providing service.”
Library fee surveys obtained by the county in 2003 and 2006 showed that certain fees charged by the library “are well below the actual cost of providing the use of library services,” Conte’s report noted. A recent study by the Monterey Bay Association of Cooperative Libraries, of which San Benito’s library is a member, showed that the recommended fees and fines proposed to supervisors are lower than those in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
See the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
