I like schemes where positive behaviour is directly linked to counter negative behaviour.
Let's first introduce a soft cap and hard cap. If you have fines accrued it doesn't prevent you from borrowing books but the fines are still kept in record, and you owe to the library. You can pay the fines, or keep them on the record but if the total fines reach, say $10, then also borrowing will eventually be denied. Maybe the number of books you could borrow would be limited earlier: if you have unpaid fines pending, you can only have one or two books out for loan at any given time.
Now, here's the idea: what if upon returning a book a small amount would be subtracted from the accrued fine?
If you racked up a few dollars of fines for a good reason or a bad reason, you could pay those off merely by using the library properly, i.e. borrowing books and returning them. Kids could easily afford this sort of "payment".
There could be a limit that by returning books you can only subtract a certain amount off the fine during one week or one month, but basically the scheme would be designed so that anyone who kept using the library regularly would be bound to clear out their fines in some definite time. It's like club card discounts but only applied to late return fines.
What if someone just borrows a lot of books and returns them only to erase their fines? If that's what gets these people to come back to a library repeatedly, if for nothing else than to return books they've borrowed to get their fines erased then that's not a bad outcome either.
Let's first introduce a soft cap and hard cap. If you have fines accrued it doesn't prevent you from borrowing books but the fines are still kept in record, and you owe to the library. You can pay the fines, or keep them on the record but if the total fines reach, say $10, then also borrowing will eventually be denied. Maybe the number of books you could borrow would be limited earlier: if you have unpaid fines pending, you can only have one or two books out for loan at any given time.
Now, here's the idea: what if upon returning a book a small amount would be subtracted from the accrued fine?
If you racked up a few dollars of fines for a good reason or a bad reason, you could pay those off merely by using the library properly, i.e. borrowing books and returning them. Kids could easily afford this sort of "payment".
There could be a limit that by returning books you can only subtract a certain amount off the fine during one week or one month, but basically the scheme would be designed so that anyone who kept using the library regularly would be bound to clear out their fines in some definite time. It's like club card discounts but only applied to late return fines.
What if someone just borrows a lot of books and returns them only to erase their fines? If that's what gets these people to come back to a library repeatedly, if for nothing else than to return books they've borrowed to get their fines erased then that's not a bad outcome either.