This paper discusses fee-based services in public libraries. The first section examines examples of charging for public library services in three countries: the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland; and New Zealand. The intention is to consider the circumstances in which charging was introduced, the public's response in terms of the effect on usage, and an evaluation of whether the scheme is regarded as successful. The overall objective is to provide hard facts and statistics, in order that future decisions can be made without recourse to the emotional arguments of the past, which are largely based on purely philosophical grounds. The second section describes the Singapore experience, including: the rationales for charging, e.g., as a means of reducing extravagant wants to the level of realistic means, and for controlling the demand for the limited number of terminals for providing access to electronic information; the fee schedule for small services that tend to be free in other countries; the use of a national cashcard for payments; and other initiatives, e.g., the Home Delivery Service, three-tiered reference service with charges for higher tiers, creation of an inquiry database, and establishment of a call center to deal with remote inquiries. (Contains 33 references.) (MES)