Salt Lake City ? Twelve-year-old Audrey Conner owed about $7 in fines to the Salt Lake City public library system, but the voracious reader was a little short.

It didn’t matter. Her nearby library branch had an alternative: Kids who can’t pay the fine can do the time. So Audrey sat in a room reading a book of her choice, earning $1 for every 10 minutes. She paid her debt in a little over an hour.

“I actually timed myself with my cell phone, and they wrote down my starting time,” Conner said.

Libraries across the country are experimenting with similar programs that offer readers an amnesty on overdue fines or do away with them completely. In Salt Lake City, anyone 18 and under can “read down” a debt.

“It’s a great idea, and it’s picking up more and more,” said Camila Alire, president of the American Library Association. “Especially now, during this economic recession, we don’t want to deter people from using the library.”

Lisa Curt, manager of the branch where Conner had the debt, said librarians “don’t really like to have fines, particularly with children and teens who owe. It’s like a necessary evil.”

In Arizona, the Scottsdale Public Library System has partnered with hospitals to issue library cards to newborn babies — and give those cards a year without fines. The idea is that new moms shouldn’t have to worry about getting books back quickly. They have enough to do.

Some libraries think the fines system so outdated they are tossing it altogether.

On Valentine’s Day last year, the Anythink Libraries just north of Denver eliminated their fine system.

“Our philosophy is that we want people to come to the library, even if their heads are hanging low,” library spokeswoman Stacie Ledden said.

The library system gives patrons 25 days after the due date to return a book. It’s then marked lost, and the reader is charged to replace it.