District Library Board votes to eliminate late book fines as of July 1

As of the new fiscal year, which begins July 1 for the Belleville Area District Library, there no longer will be fines for keeping a book out too long.
You’ll still have to pay if you lose a book altogether.
At its regular meeting on May 15, the district library board voted unanimously to eliminate the fines.
The committee on fines was made up of John Juriga, Mary Jo Suchy, Linda Priest, and Joy Cichewicz. They reported that eliminating fines would amount to losing less than 1% of the budget. Other libraries report after eliminating fines, 95% of the books are returned.
Cichewicz said the American Library Association encourages libraries to eliminate fines.
Juriga said to eliminate services for those owing fines is terrible.
“You want kids to read,” he said.
Juriga said Van Buren Public Schools Supt. Pete Kudlak said the schools don’t charge late fines, but if they lose a book they pay for that.
Some details will have to be worked out, said Library Director Mary Jo Suchy. When there are inter-library loans, if another library has a fine, Belleville wouldn’t collect it.
“We’ll revisit this if we must,” Suchy said, adding the circulation policy needs to be revised.
Board president Sharon Peters said the revision approved will not be implemented until the new policy is in place.
Mary Jane Dawson, head of the policy committee, said the policy will be revised and presented to the board.
“Fine free for the Fourth of July,” said library architect Dan Whisler.
In other business at the one-hour-47-minute meeting, the board:
• Approved amending the 2018-19 budget for new equipment from $40,000 to $70,000;
• Learned the Belleville Masons (Masonic Lodge #89) have agreed to perform a ceremonial cornerstone laying ceremony for the library on Saturday June 22 or 29, yet to be determined. An ice cream social is also planned for that day;
• Learned from architect Whisler that the new library building is expected to be done in early December and there will be two weeks to work on the punch list so furniture can probably moved in in mid December. He said it will take three to four weeks to get all the technology installed and the present library might close for a month. A ceremonial bucket brigade was suggested, with the new building opening to the public. The present library might sit for a month or two until the parking lot is done and a grand rummage sale of items was suggested. The hard opening of the library will be in June 2020 and that’s when there will be the unveiling of the donor wall;
• Heard Peters announce that they have topped their overall goal of $400,000 in donations with a $100,000 donation over three years in memory of Judy Ann Darling by her widower to support the early childhood wing with manipulateable items. Darling ran a day care center that is now occupied by Our Father’s Child daycare. Peters said when the board hit hard budget realities, “The community came forward in a way not any of us had imagined”;
• Heard Juriga report on a meeting he had concerning the proposed bee hives on the new library’s roof. Present were Brian Peterson of Bees in the D, Cichewicz, Ann Heck of Michigan State Extension Service, local beekeeper Jim Wagner, and Assistant Library Director Hilary Savage. He said Therese Antoinelli offered to pay for all the hives, which couldn’t be put up until after April next year. He said Peterson would come out and educate the public on the project and there would be a $2,500 maintenance fee to get the project off the ground. Cichewicz, also a beekeeper, said honeybees fly up to three miles for nectar and pollen, so they’ll be all over the area. Juriga said he is planning to have t-shirts made saying, “The Library Puts the Bee in Belleville.” He said, “We’ve got a whole year”; and
• Heard Suchy report that the library has hired three new student assistants to help with the RFID project and to potentially replace two student assistants who will be going away to college this fall. New student assistants are Liz Valicenti, Tatiana Foley, and Lauren McKnight.