Students trade food for fines

Earlier this month, students at U of T Mississauga traded one food item for $2 off their library fines, to a maximum of $20. These donations supported the University of Toronto Food and Clothing Bank.

Students had to present TCards when making their donations and food had to have a minimum shelf life of two months. No trial or sample sizes were credited to fines and the credit only applied to overdue fines. This is the first time that 17 of the 44 University of Toronto Libraries, including UTM, participated in the Food for Fines initiative.

“Patrons have been very generous,” said Shane Chan, information loans technician and Food for Fines project lead. Many students reached the $20 maximum and quite a few brought in more items than necessary to clear their fines, said Chan.

Food for Fines ran the week of October 1 to 5. In total, UTM library staff credited over $1,900 in fines, and collected 1,195 food items. In addition to Chan, the organizers included Library community development leader Donna Liu, social media librarian Eva Stepanian, information and loans supervisor Dorota Swieton, and information loans technician Dave West.

“Library patrons benefit and the food bank benefits,” said Chan.

UTM library’s next fundraiser, the annual United Way Used Book Sale, organized by GIS/data librarian Andrew Nicholson and collection development coordinator Shelley Hawrychuk, runs from 1 to 3 p.m. on November 27 and 28 in the Link between the Communications Culture & Technology Building and the UTM Library.