HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2024 1002 CCSA REG ITEM 09BCITY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA
City Council Meeting
of October 2, 2024
ACTION RECEIVED AND FILED ANNUAL
UPDATE AND DIRECTED STAFF TO
RETURN IN SIX MONTHS WITH ADDITIONAL
DATA FOR POLICY CONSIDERATION TO
DETERMINE CONTINUATION OR
ELIMINATION OF THE FINE FREE
PROGRAM.
BY A. Hurtado.
B.Consider Update on Fine Free Policy at Moorpark City Library. Staff
Recommendation: Receive and file update on Fine Free Policy at the Library.
(Staff: Jessica Sandifer, Deputy Parks & Recreation Director)
Item: 9.B.
MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Honorable City Council
FROM: Jessica Sandifer, Deputy Parks and Recreation Director
BY: Christine Conwell, Library Director, Library Systems & Services
DATE: 10/02/2024 Regular Meeting
SUBJECT: Consider Update on Fine Free Policy at Moorpark City Library
BACKGROUND
In September 2023, staff presented a report to the City Council requesting waiver of
accrued library fines and support of a Fine Free Policy at the Moorpark City Library. Since
its inception in 2007, the Moorpark City Library had amassed over $60,000 in fines that
were deemed uncollectible. In addition, the collection of fines at the Library had been a
drain on staff resources that were better spent in service to Library patrons and were
potentially a barrier to equitable use of library materials since no t all families have
disposable income to pay for fines. Staff did some research and found that regionally,
libraries had been eliminating fines for similar reasons. The City Council had expressed
apprehension regarding discontinuing fines at the Library primarily due to concern over
timely return of physical materials. Ultimately at the September meeting the City Council
approved the waiver of the fees and the implementation of the Fine Free Policy and
requested an update in one year to determine if ther e had been any impacts to physical
material circulation at the library in terms of longer hold times or longer periods of
materials being unavailable.
Staff has prepared this update for the City Council regarding implementation of the Fine
Free Policy.
DISCUSSION
After the City Council discussion, staff executed various steps to roll out the Fine Free
initiative and begin tracking data on Fine Free implementation. The following is a
summary of the actions taken and their outcomes.
Item: 9.B.
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Honorable City Council
10/02/2024 Regular Meeting
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Steps Taken to Implement the Fine-Free Initiative
1.System Updates and Fine Waivers
o September 30, 2023: All necessary updates to the Polaris Integrated Library
system (Polaris), which manages the library collections and circulation, were
completed to designate Moorpark City Library as a fine -free institution.
o October 3, 2023: The first wave of overdue fine waivers was initiated, targeting
patrons who owed only overdue fines and no other fees related to lost items,
collection agency, and printing, etc. This step resulted in the clearing of fines
for 6,981 patrons. Each Patron account for which a fine was cleared, was
documented with a note: "Moorpark is fine-free – your overdue fines have been
cleared!"
o October 4, 2023: A second wave of fine waivers was carried out that focused
on waiving the overdue fines for patrons who also owed other types of fees,
such as lost items, collection agency, and printing. This second wave affected
an additional 1,411 accounts. In total, 8,392 patrons received overdue fine
waivers totaling $61,810.67. Of these patrons, 3,781 accounts were unblocked
and could resume library services.
o Although overdue fines were removed, the other fees noted above remain on
the accounts. However, other than lost item fees there are no other fees the
Library charges that would block an account.
o A note of clarification: At the September 2023 City Council meeting, staff
requested approval to waive $61,810.67 in uncollected overdue fines (late
fines), a figure that was pulled on August 25, 2023. At that time, it was
estimated that approximately 2,934 accounts were blocked due to overdue
fines, based on a report run through April 2022, which was presented to the
Library Board. However, once the fine waiver process was completed in
October 2023, the actual number of blocked accounts due to overdue fines was
3,781. The increase in blocked accounts is attributable to the fact that the initial
estimate only included overdue fines through April 2022. Over time, additional
accounts accrued fines leading up to the implementation of the fine-free policy
in September 2023, resulting in a higher final number. The waiver of overdue
fines in October 2023 resolved these blocks, reflecting the updated total.
2.Communication and Outreach
o October 5, 2023: A "cleanup" of 4,080 billable emails was conducted using the
NeverBounce service, which validated 1,779 emails.
o November 1, 2023: An email notification was sent to the 1,779 valid accounts
informing them of the fine-free policy and the clearing of their overdue fines.
The email campaign had a 59% open rate, with 1,049 recipients opening the
email.
o November 7, 2023: Digital vendors, such as Overdrive and Kanopy were
contacted to remove restrictions on all patron accounts for these services.
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Honorable City Council
10/02/2024 Regular Meeting
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3.Patron Cleanup
•As part of ongoing maintenance, a cleanup was conducted to remove patrons
with expired accounts who had not visited the library in the last three years. Of
the 8,392 patrons who benefited from the fine waivers, 5,826 were removed
from the system due to inactivity (not using the library for three or more years).
Of the remaining 2,566 patrons, 271 (or 10.5%) have used the library in the last
year.
Impact on Patrons
•Blocked Accounts: The number of patrons who have blocks on their accounts
fluctuates daily. Lost item replacement fees are assessed 28 days after the due
date. The transition to a fine-free model significantly reduced the number of
blocked accounts. After the City Council approval of the Fine Free Policy and the
clean-up actions noted above, 3,781 patron accounts were unblocked, allowing
these patrons to resume library services. As of August 2024, there are 155 blocked
accounts due to lost items.
•Circulation and Returns: The average length of time a patron kept a checked-out
item increased by 3 days since implementing the Fine Free Policy. This increase
is not a significant disruption to the patron experience. Before the pandemic, 91%
of the collection was returned on time or renewed by the due date compared to
75% post pandemic. This statistic includes the pandemic years when fines were
not charged and when fines were reinstated in 2022.
•Time to Fill Holds: Holds are placed on materials when a patron wants to be the
next person in line to borrow the material. Holds are often used for the more
popular, newer materials. Although the length of time a patron keeps a checked -
out item has increased, the average wait time to fulfill a hold has only marginally
increased. Pre-pandemic, the wait time was 10.13 days. Over the past year, this
wait time saw a slight increase to 10.93 days.
•Lost Library Materials: Since the resumption of fines after the pandemic, the
number of patrons who have blocked accounts due to lost or unreturned materials
has stayed fairly steady at 3%.
*total number of active patrons 5,184
This also tracks with what other Fine Free Libraries are seeing with in Ventura
County. The County library system generally has 2% of users blocked due to lost
materials and Thousand Oaks Library has about 3% of users blocked due to lost
materials.
Year
Number of
Blocked
Accounts*
% of
Blocked
Accounts
2022 161 3%
2023 155 2.9%
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Honorable City Council
10/02/2024 Regular Meeting
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•When looking at the effects of lost materials on circulation , between September
2023 and August 2024, the library circulated 75,803 items (unique checkouts and
renewed items) and during that time 332 items were marked as lost, representing
0.44% of circulated items.
•Pandemic Impact on Library Services: In 2020, Moorpark City Library faced a
variety of major service changes due to the pandemic, which significantly affected
patron borrowing behavior. The impact of the pandemic and the resulting service
adjustments had far greater effects that are still being seen today. With physical
spaces inaccessible during the pandemic, the Library pivoted to expand digital
resources and virtual services, leading to a surge in demand for e -books,
audiobooks, and streaming media. Since the pandemic, circulation for adults and
young adults continues to trend towards digital formats, with e -circulation for Fiscal
Year 2023/24 growing by 14%, while overall physical, material circulation has
trended down.
The Library did not see many of the effects that other libraries experienced as a result of
going Fine Free such as a surge in return of lost materials, or a dramatic increase in
physical circulation. However, based on the data collected, as well as interactions with
library patrons, the implementation of the Fine Free Policy has not materially affected the
ability of the library to fulfill hold requests, has not resulted in a significant increase of lost
materials, and has not affected the availability of library materials for patrons. In light of
the trend towards digital circulation, it is likely that concerns about materials being
returned late, lost, or stolen will be further reduced, as physical material circulation
decreases or stays steady.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION
This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as it does
not constitute a project, as defined by Section 15378 of the State CEQA Guidelines.
Therefore, no further environmental review is required.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact.
COUNCIL GOAL COMPLIANCE
This does not meet a current council strategic objective.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Receive and file update on Fine Free Policy at the Library.
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