Community Corner
Fort Lee Library to Donate Late Fees to Japanese Earthquake Relief This Week
The Fort Lee Public Library is dedicating its National Library Week efforts to supporting the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.
The Fort Lee Public Library will commemorate National Library Week in a special way this year. This week all fines become voluntary, but while overdue/late fees won’t be mandated, they will be accepted as donations instead. The library will then donate all of the money they receive from April 10 to April 16 to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.
”If a patron returns a book to the library and there is an overdue fine on it, they do not have to pay it; it’s voluntary," said library director Rita Altomara. "However, if they elect to pay it, that money will go to the Japanese Earthquake Relief Fund. We’re encouraging people to pay the fines anyway."
For those patrons who aren’t tardy about returning books, there is still an opportunity to donate any amount.
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”I want to encourage people to be generous,” Altomara said. “This idea of doing something for the Japanese People [was a] very public, spirited kind of thing to do. Looking back over the many years that the library has been here, the Japanese people have been very, very supportive of Fort Lee and our library. I think this is a way we can show our appreciation.”
This spin on National Library Week was organized and administered by the Library Board of Trustees, a nine-member board appointed by the Fort Lee Mayor and Council.
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This isn’t the first time the has shown their charitable side.
“We did something very similar to it when Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast. We took all the fine money we had accumulated that week and donated it,” Altomara said.
Altomara hopes that people will be generous this week.
“Our hearts go out to the Japanese people,” she said.
According to the American Library Association (ALA) website, the National Libary Week is dedicated to libraries all over the country with some days reserved for specific purposes. Tuesday, April 12 is National Library Workers Day, Wednesday, April 13 is National Bookmobile Day, and Thursday, April 14 is Support Teen Literature Day.
