[Michlib-l] Card for children

[Megan Buck]

Hi All,

I am curious how other libraries are handling issuing cards to minors.  We currently require a signature from a parent or legal guardian. However, with the changing dynamic of families, we are questioning if this is best for the children in our community.  So many grandparents, stepparents, and other trusted adults are now caring for children and the only ones taking an interest in their literacy needs.   We are considering opening up our application to require a responsible party sign, but not limit the relationship of that person to the child.  A few notes - We do not limit access to any of our collections based on age, so one (of many) concern is that a child could check out materials that their actual parent/legal guardian would not want them to have.  We do not charge overdue fines, so the only charges that would be assessed would be for lost or damaged items.  We do have a probationary period during which we limit the total number of checkouts on a card and the account must be in good standing to transition to full privileges.  Finally, this is coming from some negative comments in our community regarding the rights of stepparents to sign up their stepchildren for cards.  I am not looking to debate the role of stepparents, but hoping another library or two have already tackled this issue and are willing to help us learn from your experience!

My questions are:

How do you handle minor cards?  Do you require an adult to sign permission, and do you restrict to certain relationships (mother/father/guardian/etc.)?

Do you have restrictions on what the child can access within the library (including Internet access), especially interested if you don't restrict to only parents/legal guardians?

Do you have a policy or wording from your application you would be willing to share regarding the responsibilities assumed?

Do you have any advice (pros/cons) from experience or warnings of things I may be overlooking?

Thank you in advance!
Megan


Megan Buck
Director
Dickinson County Library
401 Iron Mountain Street
Iron Mountain, MI 49801
(906) 774-1218
www.dcl-lib.org<http://www.dcl-lib.org/>

[dickinson cty libray-side email]

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