That's not in all areas. The closest library to the town I grew up in charged fees for a card (required for both checking out books & computer access), as an example.
Further, there are fees almost everywhere else, too: overdue fees. Unsurprisingly, when you get rid of overdue fees, participation rises:
Since the fine-free policies went into effect, the library has seen an increase of 29,094 patrons year over year. In addition, 3,900 of the 6,500 patrons who were prevented from borrowing items due to overdue fines have returned to use library resources.
The changes were enacted after a city study revealed that nearly half of the library's patrons whose accounts were blocked as a result of late fees lived in two of the city's poorest neighborhoods. "I never realized it impacted them to that extent," said Misty Jones, the city's library director.
Further, there are fees almost everywhere else, too: overdue fees. Unsurprisingly, when you get rid of overdue fees, participation rises:
Since the fine-free policies went into effect, the library has seen an increase of 29,094 patrons year over year. In addition, 3,900 of the 6,500 patrons who were prevented from borrowing items due to overdue fines have returned to use library resources.
https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2019/07/24/kitsap-regio...
The changes were enacted after a city study revealed that nearly half of the library's patrons whose accounts were blocked as a result of late fees lived in two of the city's poorest neighborhoods. "I never realized it impacted them to that extent," said Misty Jones, the city's library director.
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/30/781374759/we-wanted-our-patro...
It's not controversial that overdue fees are a tax on the poor:
https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/removingbarrierstoaccess
Even the ALA agrees that libraries are discriminating against the poor with them:
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/sites/ala.org.aboutala/files/con...