Freedom from fines- but freedom comes at a price

During the month of July Seminole Public Library will be accepting nonperishable food items in lieu of overdue fines.  The collected items will be donated to the local food pantry to help those within the community.

According to Jeanette Kennedy, Director of Seminole Public Library, “food insecurity and lower reading levels often go hand in hand.  Just because someone is struggling doesn’t mean they won’t be able to read, but it may infringe upon the time available to read.  We want to remove as many barriers as possible”.

Paying fines with food helps the community, allows library privileges to be restored, and gets books back in circulation.  In a sense it is tripling the benefit.  

Books that are overdue accrue a fine of 5c a day per book.  The fines are in place to ensure books are returned on time.  If a book is left forgotten under a bed somewhere someone else is not getting to read it. 

The entire library concept is based on circulation.  So find your books, grab some food, and bring it back to the library.  We don’t bite.  We just want our books back in circulation