Slashdot has lengthy comments on an article proposing anonymous library cards, written by Ben Ostrowsky, systems librarian at the Tampa Bay Library Consortium.
Privacy minded users deposit $20 to get a card - and money is deducted when they check out materials. Once the materials are returned, the money is restored.
Fascinating idea - I know I typically check out hundreds of dollars of stuff at a time ... and at first blush I thought this would be too limiting because the card would be too expensive for me.
But having the privacy card option is very appealing, since I could still check out bestsellers and expensive art books on my identifiable library card. But I could also check out that book that I don't want anyone to know I'm reading - by using my privacy card. Add self-checkout machines to the mix, and no humans connect me to the book - great!
I often use a small library and request books from other branches. Could I still do this? I suppose I could, as the privacy card could still have a barcode. If requesting from a home computer, you'd have to mask the IP address of the computer you're using with an anonymizer.
It would set up a two-tier system - those that can afford privacy have that option while others don't. Yet anyone can still go to the library and read the books there free. And get this, it seems to me that for as little as 25 cents you could get a privacy card, giving you unlimited access to request books from other libraries - delivered to your branch to then read in-house for free.* This might even help homeless patrons at the libraries that require an address to get an identifiable library card.
And for a no cost option (that is, no cost to users), see Pam Davis, “The honor system: a library encourages kids to take books without checking them out,” School Library Journal, (March 2004), for a successful experiment with anonymous checkout in a school.
*This assumes that the library gets books from other branches free for users with cards. Mine does.
Checking out books anonymously is the coward's way out. A true man is never scared to use his own name.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 05, 2006 at 06:27 PM
Rochelle, do Illinois libraries verify a patron's residency and tax delinquency status before answering a telephone reference question, allowing in-house use of magazines and photocopiers, etc.? Libraries serve patrons in many ways; circulation is just one of them. Perhaps it could be argued that Illinois libraries have been providing no-money-down circulation to taxpayers only, but that cash-backed lending falls into the category of Things For Which We Need Not Verify Residency, such as use of the bathroom or browsing the stacks.
Posted by: Ben Ostrowsky | June 06, 2005 at 05:44 AM
Rochelle - that's a really good question. I suppose you'd need to look not only at state laws, but local jurisdictions to see if the anonymous card could fit within the language of those frameworks.
I don't know about IL, but I believe that California libraries that restrict borrowing to residents generally allow out-of-towners to purchase nonresident cards, If the privacy cardholder can only borrow up to the $$ on the card, it seems to me that the concern that taxpayers don't foot the bill for out-of-towners is addressed.
Speaking to which, a surcharge really should be added to the retail price of each book, in my opinion. E.g. to borrow a $20 book, a user should need $30 on a privacy card. Otherwise people may be tempted to use the library as a bookstore. Anyone who's worked in a library knows that the cost of acquiring, cataloguing, processing etc a book is far greater than the simple cost of the book.
And the ugly two tiered system for rich and poor? I'm still thinking out loud, but it seems that at least a privacy cardholder with .25 on the card (maybe even 0 cents), could request a book from outside that branch, opening up a truly giant library of books, even in a small community. The book is then held at the library to read in-house.
That brings me to the HOLD SHELF privacy issue. Libraries in my area have moved books on HOLD for users to a self-service shelf (I like it). One system near me shelves HOLDS by library card number. I also like that. Another, however, shelves them with giant labels showing the user's LAST NAME! Horrible. Any looky-loo can see what's being held and for whom.
Posted by: Mary | June 04, 2005 at 03:22 PM
I was hoping that you were going to comment on this, but wonder if you could address the issue of legislation. In Illinois, libraries are set up to legally serve residents of specific tax-paying districts, or those who are members of reciprocol districts. Would this anonymous service require legislation?
Posted by: rochelle h | June 04, 2005 at 07:44 AM