The City of Sydney has imposed a moratorium on library fines for four years, following a successful trial that led to almost 70,000 overdue items being returned in seven months.
The council has raked in more than $1 million in fines since Clover Moore became lord mayor in 2004.
However, gone are the days of heavy-handed deterrence, as the administration costs associated with pursuing the fines outweighs the revenue.
And Cr Moore said fines were an additional cost to the community by acting as a disincentive for borrowers.
"[We've]Â found that, in most cases, [fines]Â had the opposite effect, frightening members into never returning their overdue items," she said.
The council said that 67,945 overdue library items were returned during a trial amnesty between July 2016 and February this year, more than triple the number of overdue items returned in the previous 12 months.
The council hopes the four-year amnesty will further whittle down the libraries' overdue lists. Among the longest overdue items are a children's book called Colours, a CD that teaches Russian to travellers, and two editions of Chopper Read's autobiography. All are 14 years overdue.
"Ironically, many of the overdue books were in the self-help category, including books offering advice on how to declutter and tidy up," Cr Moore said.
Rather than fines, membership suspensions will be imposed on tardy borrowers, leaving them unable to borrow from the library, including the digital collection, or to use the computers and printers.
All suspensions will be lifted once the overdue items are returned.
City of Sydney Labor councillor Linda Scott welcomed the moratorium.
"We should be encouraging everyone to access our city's libraries, not fining members to raise revenue," she said.
The City of Parramatta council already has a similar system in place.Â
"[The] council does not impose fines as such but seeks to recover the cost of library items that have been lost or damaged," administrator Amanda Chadwick said.Â
The administrator of the Northern Beaches Council, Dick Persson, said two-thirds of the residents of his council area were members of a library.Â
"Northern Beaches Council is always happy to look at ways of doing things better, and I'm very interested in knowing more about the trial the City of Sydney has conducted," Mr Perrson said.
"I will ask my chief executive officer and the library staff to have a look at it."
The City of Sydney Library has nine branches - including at Glebe, Surry Hills and Kings Cross - and two services that link to those branches.
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