Legal Commentary

Should Library Users Be Required to Show ID?

By TChris

Universities represent intellectual freedom for those who can afford to attend them. For everyone else, public libraries symbolize the opportunity to acquire knowledge free from governmental interference. That's why a New Bedford proposal to require library users to show ID before entering the library is so offensive.

The proposal is a knee-jerk response to a sexual assault that occurred in a New Bedford library. Its efficacy depends on the dubious assumption that sex offenders won't show ID. It would not, as the mayor suggests, "let people know they're completely safe." It would, however, cause people to wonder whether they are safe from governmental monitoring of their reading habits, and might deprive those who don't have ID from using the library altogether. Like most knee-jerk responses to the tragedy of crime, this is a proposal that is likely to cause more problems than it will solve.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 18, 2008 (boomark / email).