"We require [photo ID] to get a library card," Scott Walker said.No we don't. We require a birth certificate or a social security card and a recent utility bill to get a library card. That is, one piece of ID with your name, and one piece of ID with your name and address. No photo ID necessary. Scott Walker is so out of touch with regular Wisconsinites he doesn't even know how to get a library card. Recall him next month.
Here is Scott Walker's photo ID: the Desperado.
Madison Public Library does require a photo ID, so I thought perhaps you were wrong--surely they would be most liberal in their policies. So I looked at a number of Wisconsin libraries on the web (well, South Central Library System and Milwaukee).
ReplyDeleteAlthough many of these library web sites don't actually say what they require, there were some that didn't require a photo ID but accepted just mail or checks with printed address as proof of residence. In the age of the Patriot Act, I was a bit surprised that so many didn't require a photo ID. Those that do require it mostly appear to accept many more IDs than the new voter ID law does, like student IDs; and some list state IDs only but don't say they would reject others.
Milwaukee Public Library does not require a photo ID, although they apparently want to take a photo of you if you don't have a photo ID. I would assume that this would have been Scott Walker's library.
For those that do require a photo ID, it's not clear what they would do with an elderly or poor person who didn't have one and couldn't travel to a DMV office for a free one (which didn't exist previously). At least each library or municipality is free to decide that for themselves.
I'm not sure how I feel about a photo ID requirement for purposes other than voting. Regardless, I'm completely on board with recalling Walker.
Yes, Milwaukee took their own pic and kept it on file but they don't use it anymore because they've gone fully automated -- at the central branch anyway -- with bar code scanners and touch screens. I don't think they took the pic in lieu of the patron not having a photo ID because I'm sure I would have shown them photo ID when I got my card way back when. They took my pic for their files regardless.
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