Young readers in Voorhees have news to celebrate.
The Camden County Library System has announced it will no longer collect late fees for materials borrowed by those 16-years-old and younger.
The policy will affect Camden County Library System libraries, which in addition to the Voorhees branch, include Bellmawr, Camden, Gloucester Township, Haddon Township, Merchantville and Winslow Township.
The move comes from an idea by Camden County Library System Director Linda Devlin as a way to encourage more young people to use the library and as a way to help promote childhood literacy.
“We want the library to be a positive experience for young people, and we believe creating financial barriers to using the library is counterproductive,” Devlin said in an email to library staff regarding the announcement.
Camden County Library System public relations officer Mark Amorosi said the policy is a way for libraries to invite people, especially younger people, to avail themselves of their local library’s resources.
“We thought it would be a good policy. For some people, late fees can become onerous, especially if a kid doesn’t return something,” Amorosi said.
However, the new policy does not mean young patrons of the library can simply borrow as many materials as they want for as long as they want.
Library patrons under 16 years old are still eventually required to return any materials they have borrowed, and if items reach 14 days past due, those patrons will have their borrowing privileges revoked until a time when the overdue materials are returned.
“We didn’t want to give the impression that we were becoming so lax that we were encouraging people to lose our materials — we do want the material back, but I think it’s a pretty sound policy, and I think we’re pretty happy with it,” Amorosi said.
Late fees and return schedules will remain unchanged for those older than 16.
The elimination of late fees for those 16 and under also comes at a fortunate time for the library system’s youngest readers, as the system recently kicked off its summer reading program.
Through Aug. 5, younger readers are encouraged to visit the library and incorporate literacy into their summer vacation.
Once registered, young readers can receive an activity sheet they can complete throughout the summer, keeping track of the titles they’ve read and the overall time they’re spent reading.
Once the reading-related activities are completed, readers can hand in the sheet for a prize and shot at winning a gift card from Barnes and Noble.
Young readers can also get a bonus log to receive a small prize for every additional five hours read.
Teens are also encouraged to compete their own teen activity cards for a chance to win a gift card.
Voorhees teens also have another way to take advantage of the elimination of late fees at the library this summer, as the Voorhees Branch Library and its sister sites offer many of the books listed on the summer reading lists for fall classes at Eastern Regional High School.
