Library Cards

Our library is trying to set some parameters around what we require from a patron in order to check out library materials to them. For adults and teens, this is straightforward: we require they have their library card or a form of identification.

First, I'll answer the easy question: No, you are not overthinking this.

For children fortunate enough to be brought to the public library at a young age, the experience is life-altering. They grow as readers and thinkers. They see themselves as part of a community that shares resources. They start to absorb the values of privacy and information access.

Is it legal to print student photos with their names on their school library cards for circulation use?

I didn't realize it in first grade, but a school library[1] is one of the first places a person experiences "the right to privacy" unmediated by a parent or guardian.

COVID has made online library card registration essential in many areas. What do we need to consider when dispensing online (temporary cards that allow access to e-resources) and physical library cards to children? At what age, and under what circumstances do we need to get a guardian's signature? Can we require some form of ID for children?

I remember getting my first library card at the Utica Public Library with my Dad, circa 1985.  It was a right of passage: something "official" before I could drive, or work, or vote; a stepping-stone to adult life.