Last week I went into the Nashua library to see some reference material. I walked in free-faced and was not given a hard time though they have a doorman at a desk with a box of single-use masks and a hand sanitizer pump. Of course, there was plexiglass everywhere.
The reference desk clerk said the Hunt room was still closed, but she would fetch the requested material and ALLOW ME 90 minutes to view it at a cubicle. Wow, permission to do that, even without an appointment! Though I hadn’t bought 90 minutes of parking, I was annoyed at their attitude as the place wasn’t crowded. But I refrained from commenting as she was just an employee rather than a policymaker.
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Today I returned to the library to view some of the same material, and it went rather differently. She wanted my library card, and I politely balked. I said, “card needed to LOOK AT something without checking it out?!”
She mentioned how unreplaceable reference material is and that the Hunt room is now open. I mentioned that last week I had just requested the specific items and had them brought out to me at a cubicle.
Perhaps sensing an “independent thinking Lisa Simpson type” patron, another staff member interjected and said the rules have changed.
Not even sure if I had my card in my purse, I dug for it and found its keychain tag. The scan turned up nothing, and I was asked for ID. At this point, and as a city resident, taxpayer, and one with a harmless request, I was getting really annoyed.
I asked if my account had been purged as deadwood. Indeed it had been. For crying out loud, they had been closed for the past year! I wonder if the same methodology for tidying the city voter lists is used at the library?
An ID is needed to reactivate my library card, but NOT to vote.
