Santa Barbara Library will forgive all outstanding fines and fees

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara Public Library will forgive all outstanding fines and fees on library accounts as it transitions to a new catalog.

"Many of these outstanding fines and fees are more than 4 years old, and many are simply overdue fines for a couple of items that together exceed the $10 limit," said Jessica Cadiente, library director.

"Giving community members a fresh start as we migrate accounts to a new catalog system allows them the opportunity to return to the library, and is in line with the Library's mission of reducing barriers to access."

The Santa Barbara City Council approved a proposal to forgive the fees at its meeting on Tuesday.

City officials said that forgiving the fines will help facilitate a more efficient data transfer from the previous Black Gold library catalog to the new Koha ILS and Aspen Discovery Layer.

The library stopped charging late fees on overdue books in July in 2019 to "further the mission of equity and access," but existing fines and fees remained on people's library accounts, according to the city.

Beginning April 15, library users will have a "clean slate," and those who have had their account blocked from checking out materials due to outstanding fees will be able to check books out again.

The library will continue to charge replacement cost fees if items are not returned within 30 days of their due date, but if someone returns the item before it is 60 days overdue, the library will waive the replacement fee.