People before Policy

I asked one of the department managers today about the policy requiring a library card in order to use the computers.  The response was that libraries live and die by their numbers and if people do not get library cards, then our statistics will not reflect the accurate number of people using the library, which in turn impacts funding.  I understand the reasoning and I’m a true believer that everyone should have a library card, but I still don’t think that people should be turned away when they need help that we can easily provide.  People before policy, in my opinion.

Wow.  There have been lots of visitors to my humble little blog, thanks to Michael posting about my dilemma at work the other day.  One of the comments to his blog post indicated that many libraries have the same policy that my library does.  Other comments indicated that all people should be allowed access, even without a card.  So, why do libraries make these policies?  Ours is odd to me in other ways as well since anyone from our state must have a library card to use the computer, but out-of-staters can just show ID.  Huh?  I feel like I must be missing something that management understands, but I don’t.  I think I’ll ask tomorrow at work and report back.

 I suspect that if I suggested something like charging a fee for a temporary card, the powers that be might entertain that idea, and it would solve most of the problems.  I have issues with that too though, because I fundamentally believe that people should be able to walk into any public library and access information for free.  What if they can’t pay?  It just widens that gap between the haves and have nots.

In the summer we vacation near Manotowish Waters, WI and they have a great public library where anyone can walk in and use the computers, no questions asked.  The icing on the cake is that even people vacationing up there can check out books.  Talk about customer service!  That is the kind of library that makes me proud.