Category: books

Booklist Committee Volunteers Needed

From picture books onwards, “home” as a predictable, stable and safe place is a central subject despite a significant percentage of people who experience homelessness. These experiences are not often written about and if they are, not positively reflected in literature. To create more equitable literacy learning environments, as well as providing a counterpoint to the negative images so often created, we need opportunities to explore economic diversity and to challenge harmful discourses about people experiencing homelessness.
With this in mind, the Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty Task Force of SRRT (HHPTF) is creating a booklist of recommended books for all ages, as well as a guide to help with selecting books that are respectful and supportive of people who are experiencing homelessness.

Interested? Email us!

Chicago Public Library is Fine Free

Chicago Public Library announces they are going fine free.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (behind podium) announces the elimination of late fees throughout the Chicago Public Library (CPL) system on September 30 at Woodson Regional Library with CPL Commission Andrea Telli (center, holding paper) and American Library Association Executive Director Mary Ghikas (right). Photo: Stephanie Hlywak/American Library Association

To date, Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the largest library system in the country to go fine-free. Starting October 1, CPL will eliminate overdue fines on all CPL-owned items currently in circulation, which it said will remove barriers to basic library access, especially for youth and low-income patrons.

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Duluth Public Library Eliminates Late Fees

“We’re moving away from a punishment model to a more positive model,” said Carla Powers, Duluth Public Library manager. “The public library is not only for people who can always remember to return things. It’s not only for people who have the capacity to pay an overdue fine.”

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Tempe Book Bike Program Aims to Boost Literacy to Underserved Communities

 

Literature on wheels
Photo by Joey Coalter | The State Press “Literature on wheels.” Illustration published on Wednesday, April 17, 2019.

“A Tempe Marine veteran is putting literature on two wheels to deliver library services to people who are homeless via the Tempe Book Bike Program.

The program is housed under the Tempe Public Library, which is the closest public library to ASU’s Tempe campus. The program acts as a mobile book service that allows individuals living in underserved communities to check out books without a library card.”

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San Francisco Public Library Set to Write Off More Than $1.5 Million in Overdue Fines

“The San Francisco Public Library Commission has already recommended eliminating library fines, but on Thursday it voted to forgive existing fines as well.

The decision comes as the San Francisco Public Library is on the verge of a new fine-free chapter, after officially recognizing the punitive practice creates an ‘unfair barrier to access, which disproportionately impacts residents of lower socioeconomic status.'”

The San Francisco Public Library is likely to forgive more than $1 million in overdue fines owed by nearly 250,000 patrons.

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Boulder Library to End Late Fees in March

Etta Mazzone was happy to find a unicorn in a book she was reading with her mother, Elizabeth Wright, Friday during story time at the Boulder Public Library. The library, which already does not charge late fees on children's materials, will eliminate all late fees starting March 1. (Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer)
Etta Mazzone was happy to find a unicorn in a book she was reading with her mother, Elizabeth Wright, Friday during story time at the Boulder Public Library. The library, which already does not charge late fees on children’s materials, will eliminate all late fees starting March 1. (Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer)

“Late fees will be no more after March 1. The library commission on Dec. 5 voted to do away with the fees in the hopes of increasing patronage. The threat of overdue costs discourages library use by younger and lower-income residents, ‘the people who need (the library) the most,’ said commissioner Joni Teter.”

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