Report Upper Hutt’s library recently became the fifth in New Zealand to abolish late fees. Should others follow suit? In February 2018, American librarian Dawn Wacek delivered a Ted Talk arguing that library late fees should be done away with completely. Her contention: overdue fees do nothing to incentivise people to return their books, but instead punish those who cannot afford the penalty. It seems so obvious that by removing a financial barrier more people would turn toward reading. And yet, there’s something traditional about an overdue fee; it seems inherent within the concept of a library, just like it did in the days of popping down to the local Blockbuster to rent a film.