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Introduction <br />Public libraries play a vital role in the development of early literacy skills of <br />children and families in the communities they serve; storytimes and other <br />programming give librarians an opportunity to teach parents of young children <br />the importance of reading, writing, singing, talking and playing with their <br />children. Thoughtfully developed children's collections are available for <br />borrowing by families, particularly those that might not have the household <br />income needed to purchase them. Unfortunately, while children's librarians <br />encourage all parents and their children to avail themselves of the collection, <br />the policies of many libraries are doing just the opposite. <br />The threat of accumulating fines for overdue materials and the fees <br />associated with damaged or lost books is keeping low-income families away <br />from libraries, or from checking out items to take home (Zhang, 2013). Whether <br />the intended function of library fines and fees is to encourage the prompt return <br />of materials, to supplement the library budget, or to teach patrons responsibility, <br />overdue fines and replacement fees on children's materials can negatively <br />affect the borrowing habits of members of our community who need the library <br />the most (Zhang, 2013). <br />This white paper reviews the scant research on the costs and benefits of <br />library fines and fees, summarizes the professional editorials on the subject, and <br />asserts that these financial costs, particularly for children's materials, may be <br />4 <br />