The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 108, No. 13 - March 28, 2019
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................13
Classifieds............................4
Coloring Contest...............14
School Spotlight..................5
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................6
Legals............................ 11,12
Letters...................................3
Real Estate................7-10,16
ESHS Choir Sings in Chicago
The El Segundo High School Choir recently visited Chicago where the students performed in the Windy City Choral Festival at Symphony Center. ESHS’ Choir had the honor of opening the concert with a
solo performance, and then sang alongside 300 other singers from around the nation in the second act. Photo: ESUSD.
Sports.............................. 5,13 El Segundo Library Launching
Weekend
Forecast
Fine Forgiveness Month in April
By Brian Simon
In one of the many famous episodes of
the classic sitcom Seinfeld, Jerry learns
that he owes late fees for a book never
returned to his high school library due 20
years prior. But that doesn’t hold a candle
to a real-life case. Apparently, none other
than George Washington failed to return a
library book back in 1789. Mount Vernon
staff got around to replacing the book some
221 years later.
For all the benefits offered by public libraries,
one pesky stigma seems to dog them all:
the specter of overdue books and associated
fines that may hamper some people from remaining
customers. With that in mind, the El
Segundo Public Library recently announced
its Fine Forgiveness Month promotion. During
all of April, anyone still holding onto
late materials borrowed from the facility can
return the items with no questions asked – and
with any late fees waived. The El Segundo
City Council recently gave its blessing to
launch the program.
“The Library Board of Trustees and El
Segundo Public Library are most interested
in using Fine Forgiveness Month as an opportunity
to recover recent overdue items that
may be used by others and restore library
access for patrons of all ages,” Library Director
Melissa McCollum explained. To take
advantage of Fine Forgiveness Month, one
can simply return overdue library books to
the El Segundo Public Library between April
1 and April 30. “You may ask library staff to
remove old overdue fines as well in person
or over the phone,” McCollum added. “All
materials will be eligible for fine forgiveness
during this special event with the exception
of damaged, unusable or lost items. Additionally,
there will be no reimbursement for
previously paid fines or fees.”
In analyzing the impact of late fees, Mc-
Collum and staff came upon some surprising
statistics: 10 percent of children’s accounts
(or 480 children) have a block on them,
prohibiting those from checking out library
materials because of overdue fines. Meanwhile,
6 percent of adult library accounts
(761 adults) also have blocks. Children’s
accounts are blocked at $5 and adult accounts
are blocked at $20. Due to these blocks,
249 children’s accounts and over 500 adult
accounts remain unused over the past three
years. “The Library Board of Trustees did not
want to recommend raising the threshold for
children’s accounts at this time, as students
often visit school libraries with their teachers
rather than parents,” McCollum said. “The
Board is concerned about caregivers being
surprised about fines accruing in much higher
amounts without their knowledge.”
McCollum went on to note that parents
are not typically available to pay fines during
class visits, making the overall process
challenging. “A library assistant at Richmond
Street School told me about a recent incident
when a child burst into tears when she realized
that her account was blocked during a
class visit,” she said. “It turns out that her
mother checked out books on the account
for her brother at the main library and
forgot to return them by the due date.
Librarians also are heartbroken when they
hear parents tell their kids that they will no
longer be able to check out library books
because they don’t want to risk accumulating
additional fines.”
Said overdue fines run 25 cents per item
per day. However, fines and fees for overdue
library materials equate to less than 1 percent
of the Library Services Department’s annual
budget. The average monthly income from
overdue fines and fees is $1,666. Library
staff estimate at least $10,000 in overdue
fees could be waived during Fine Forgiveness
Month. While that amount may seem
substantial, McCollum feels the lost revenue
will be mostly offset by the return of overdue
materials – particularly when considering
that a significant portion of this lost revenue
would otherwise have never been collected
anyway. That’s because some patrons choose
to stop using the library rather than pay the
overdue fines.
McCollum views Fine Forgiveness Month
as the beginning of a conversation about the
value of overdue library fines in El Segundo.
See Fine Forgiveness, page 12
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