On July 1st this year the libraries in my municipality ditched late fees. If you return a book late, you don't have a to pay late fees. You can keep the book at home for a long time now. If you keep it very long, you have to pay for a replacement of the book. The library said that late fees are annoying for users. Makes sense. You get punished for keeping a book long periods of time. I think it's nice they removed late fees, but I hope this won't cause any delays when you reserve a book. The waiting list might get longer if you can keep the book a few weeks longer.
On september 1st this year the libraries in my municipality ditched the subscription fee for under 27s. It used to be free for under 18s, but now it's free for longer. It's not like it was unaffordable before. For 27s and older it's €55 a year. Around €4.50 a month.
With these two changes, the library is free for me now. I happily paid my subscription to support this useful public service, but they don't allow me to pay them anymore. After digging through their yearly reports I found that their visitor numbers have been growing in the past few years. I assume they are getting more funding from the municipality. #booktok might have played a postive role here!
I like the libary. It's a place full of books. It's a place anyone can enter. You can escape the summer heat if you don't have an AC. It's a quiet place to focus. Read a book, study, write, do some coding. It's absolutely wonderful this is free for anyone.