My libraries have gone to the "no fines" garbage that is so popular now. They say it's easier to administer (duh!) and makes their patrons happy. Yeah, I guess so, if you're the kind of patron who doesn't return their loans. Why they decided to cater to the scumbag patrons over the honest ones is beyond me. I've been first in line with a hold on a book due in two weeks, that I don't get for six months. All because I ended up with a jerk in front of me. No fines for the jerk, just penalize everyone else waiting in line instead.

Now I do mostly eBooks, because a jerk cannot hold up the next person in line. It's much more predictable when a book will be returned and become available again. It's not perfectly predictable, because you may have a bunch of people ahead of you, and they have all put their holds "on pause". You think you're next, but if one of these paused holds is reactivated, they jump right back into their original place at the start of the line. This is very handy when you are the one doing the pausing, but not so exciting when you have a lot of others in front of you turning their pauses on and off. But still, it's better than the unlimited delays you can see with the jerks that keep physical books forever and totally ignore due dates.