To the Editor:

Anyone out there use the Ames public library? I did, until today.

I’ve stopped patronizing the library due to the insanely punitive fines they choose to levy for overdue materials. Today they told me my fines totalled over $34, at 20 cents per day, per item. I feel that I’m being penalized for using the library, and I told them I wouldn’t be paying that fine today, or ever.

Let’s be realistic: I have a wife and a child, and we all take things out of the library. I have a business and a job, as does my wife. We’re busy, like most people. The day the books are due isn’t exactly the biggest event in our lives. Sometimes we’re overdue. Has this ever happened to you? Libraries are tax-supported institutions; we the people pay for them, and all they contain. One would assume that these institutions exist to foster literacy and learning. Why then, should people who use these institutions be punished for their enthusiasm? Clearly the city of Ames sees these bloated fines as a means of raising revenue, and possibly as a way out of properly funding the library.

I urge everyone who is tired of being punished for being literate, for being busy, for having a child who loves books, etc., to refuse to pay any and all library fines, present and future, until such a time as these ludicrous ransoms have been reduced or eliminated.

Richard Strom

Nevada, Iowa