Library forgives fines for kids
The Pioneer Library System is taking another giant step in removing barriers for its younger customers. In celebration of National Library Week, April 7-13, PLS is retroactively waiving all accrued fines on children and teen cards.
This follows last year’s move to make all youth materials across the three-county system fine free and will make library resources available once again to some customers blocked because of fines.
“Fines are seen as punitive and too often they only serve as a barrier to library use,” said Executive Director Lisa Wells.
“The last thing we want to do is create barriers,” Wells said. “We want the opposite: as many people as possible visiting our libraries and using our services.”
The new policy does not apply to fees applied for lost or damaged materials, which will still be assessed. Anyone who has seen their privilege suspended will need to either return those materials or pay for replacement.
Less than one percent of PLS operating revenue comes from fines on youth materials. Staff time spent negotiating, collecting and settling such fines, effectively makes them a net loss. So Pioneer administration and the system’s Board of Trustees agreed that it was time to act – both to do away with fines on youth materials and later to forgive those already accrued on child and teen cards.
Retroactive forgiveness goes into effect on April 7.
Movie showings to accompany PLS Reads
The Pioneer Library System continues celebrating its 60th anniversary of service by bringing communities together with its PLS Reads initiative, taking place throughout the system during April. The 2019 PLS Reads includes a pair of revolutionary fiction novels for readers to experience:
Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult, tells the racially tense story of a labor and delivery nurse faced with a moral dilemma and how it changes her life and career forever.
The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, looks at a high school student and the two worlds she has to move between: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the suburban prep school she attends.
Adding to the experience, PLS also will offer multiple free movie showings based on the Angie Thomas book. The schedule of presentations is:
6 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at the Grand Canadian Theater, 116 W. Main St. in Purcell;
6 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at the Sooner Theatre, 101 E. Main St. in Norman;
6 p.m. Thursday, April 25, at the Oklahoma Baptist University Business Center, 500 W. University St. in Shawnee.
PLS Reads is presented thanks to the support of the Norman Arts Council, Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation, the Pioneer Library System Foundation and the Pioneer Library System.