I’m assuming the age requirement for youth cards varies widely even among NYS libraries, but what are the key determining legal factors which inform how libraries settle on an age range for this policy? I can think of three factors, and libraries likely conflate all of them together.
When advising on a policy or set of terms for a library or library system to adopt for children’s library cards, I ask for the following information:
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.
