Chicago Public Library to eliminate late fees, erase debt and begin automatic renewals for up to 45 weeks

The Chicago Public Library system plans to eliminate late fees starting Tuesday, making Chicago the largest city in the nation to adopt the growing trend.

Not only will the move do away with late fees going forward, it will also erase all outstanding overdue fees currently owed to the city.

"I think our staff members are going to be practically jumping over their circulation desks to tell people that fines have been eliminated," Chicago Public Library Commissioner Andrea Telli said.

"We're removing one of the most important barriers to access," she said.

The measure, part of a series of library reforms, seeks to bring equity to a system that for years has locked out library users when they accrue $10 worth of fines - a penalty that disproportionately affects poor families who need free access to books and high-speed internet the most.

"It turns out that particularly in Chicago in the communities that aren't as socioeconomically well off, people are blocked from using libraries from that $10 fine, and as you move north in the city that is not as evident," Telli said.

One of every three library card holders in the library's South District - everything south of 59th Street - are locked out. In the North District - an area north of North Avenue - only one in six card holders are locked out, according to library officials.

Also, one in five cards that are blocked in Chicago belong to kids younger than 14.

There are currently 343,208 users locked out due to overdue fines.

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