Parents Win Cards for Children Sans Signatures
In two unrelated incidents, the parents of a 4-year-old in Warwick, Rhode Island, and a 9-year-old in the Bronx, New York, made headlines for sparring with library officials to win their children's right to become library cardholders despite the youngsters' inability to sign their names.
Two months after Ann Caffrey first attempted to get her 4-year-old son Jackson a card from Warwick Public Library, her husband convinced an official to make an exception November 6. The librarian supervising the circulation desk that day waived the policy that an applicant be able to print his name small enough to fit the computer-generated signature line—a feat that Jackson was not yet able to achieve despite practicing with his mother since September. “Part of having a library card is understanding the responsibility of borrowing something and bringing it back,” Director Douglas A. Pearce said in the November 11 Warwick Beacon.
Although the Beacon headline claimed “It took an attorney for 4-year-old to get library card,” Pearce told American Libraries that Jeffrey Caffrey's being a lawyer had no bearing on the waiver. “Exceptions are made routinely,” Pearce explained, adding, “No disabled individual would be required to sign anything [to become a cardholder].”
In seeking a New York Public Library card for her disabled son Christian, Elizabeth Torres ultimately discovered that NYPL has a similar philosophy. The day before Jackson got his Warwick library card, Christian—who cannot yet write his name—was denied one at the Soundview branch in the Bronx. “This was the last thing I expected,” Elizabeth Torres said in the November 11 New York Daily News, adding, “When I left, I had tears in my eyes. They were very insensitive.” NYPL Director and CEO Susan Kent quickly intervened, telling the News, “I am embarrassed. It is just a dreadful mistake.” Kent stated she would review card-signup policies with staff in all 85 branches systemwide.
Posted November 12, 2004; modified November 17, 2004.
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