King County Library System starts student library accounts project

Published 5:43 pm Thursday, February 4, 2016

The King County Library System’s new student library accounts project will let students open library accounts that won’t ever be blocked for overdue fines.

The library system is working with the White House ConnectED Library Challenge project through the Urban Libraries Council, the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences, and the American Library Association toward a nationwide goal of providing every child with a public library card so they can use library resources in conjunction with their classroom lessons and academic pursuits.

For personal library cards, excessive fines will automatically block the individual’s access to all library resources beyond library walls until the fines are paid: no checkouts for books or other physical materials, no database access, no computers or printing on library equipment. At the end of 2014, the library system offered a one-time fine waiver for all kids’ cards so they could get a clean start on 2015.