July 28, 2011

New York Library sanctions the debt of 140,000 New York City children

by

Hey kid! Wake up! You got ten more books to read if you want out of these fines.

According to this Reuters report, over 140,000 of NYC’s children have been banned from checking out library books because of unpaid late fees. In an unprecedented showing of debt amnesty, New York Public Library has granted debt amnesty to these delinquent children in order to encourage reading.

Apparently denying children books to read because of late fees is counter-productive to the library’s mission statement. The library is not just going to forget the debts. Instead the children will have to work the debts off. Johnathan Allen writes:

Anyone who owes $15 or more to the system is usually barred from borrowing new items. Some 143,000 library-card holders aged 17 or under fall into this category — a little less than a third of all the library system’s young users, Martin said. But the library would rather have children reading than hold out for the possibility of reaping fines that might never be paid.

The library’s conditional offer of amnesty to delinquent borrowers age 17 and under runs to September 9. All the branch libraries across the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island will be involved. Brooklyn and Queens each have their own library systems.

Those who want to clear their fines entirely can ask the library to calculate an individualized target amount of reading to wipe the slate clean.

That’s right. They’ll have to read their way out of debt. Might we offer a recommendation to these young readers as they learn about the yoke of debt oppression? I think we might.

What? It’s not that shameless.

Paul Oliver is the marketing manager of Melville House. Previously he was co-owner of Wolfgang Books in Philadelphia.

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