The following article was submitted by Chris Able, the President of the Manitowoc Public Library Board.
Hello Fans, Friends, and Families of Our Award-Winning Manitowoc Public Library!
Let’s talk about something pretty exciting, shall we?
I am pleased to announce that, beginning in February, your award winning Manitowoc Public Library is offering Fine Free Fridays!
Fans of the Library Board of Trustees know that fines—or the lack thereof—has been a topic that’s come up more than a couple of times over the last few years. A range of concerns has always been a part of this intermittent conversation. The Library has a revenue (income) line for fines and lost materials. Simply eliminating fines would mean an unbalanced budget. Many Trustees also believe that it is reasonable and responsible to require some accountability from those who use our lending services.
Balanced against those concerns are the worries that late fees might be a financial hardship for some individuals/families, which leads to the possibility that some patrons hold on to borrowed material until they can come in to pay their fees. Obviously, this prospect actually leads to an extended unavailability of these retained materials.

Chris Able
With all of this being taken into consideration, on Monday, January 25, 2022, the Board approved a program where any and all overdue materials that are physically returned to MPL on Fridays are considered to be retuned “on time,” regardless of when they were originally checked out. All one has to do is return what’s been borrowed sometime during operating hours on Friday. That’s every Friday and any Friday from now on! We hope this will make things easier on patrons and improve the availability of Library materials by reducing the overall amount of overdues that are out there.
I want to be fair here (or maybe clear is a better way of putting it) and warn everyone that this is neither a blanket forgiveness program for lost or damaged materials, nor does it erase fines you have from material you returned late four years ago (for example). This is exclusively for materials that are in someone’s possession that they return to the Library on any Friday moving forward.
However, we are always happy to work with our patrons to find ways to resolve those other outstanding charges that they may have. Our goal is always to work with you to provide the best service we can here at your award winning Manitowoc Public Library!
Fine Free Fridays! What a great way to start your weekends right!