Call me Crazy.
Nestled in a cubicle in the furthest reaches of the Chula Vista Civic Library I tapped keys on my laptop computer and refreshed a webpage. I did it again.
And again.
And again, and again, and again, and again. I must have done it to the point of physical and mental exhaustion because when I came to I felt the imprint of the laptop’s keyboard on my cheek, a stinging mockery of my simian attempt to change or understand what was in front of me.
By repeatedly banging down on my keyboard, each time with progressive insistence, I was hoping to unlock the mystery of what the library was telling me.
The message was simple but the meaning escaped me: A library card was needed to access the facility’s free wifi service. To obtain a library card a form of ID was needed.
What did that mean? Did that mean that if I did not have a library card I could not use a syetem that, just months earlier, I was able to use without hindrance or identification? Would I have to sign up for a card even if I were not a resident of Chula Vista?
Or, if I were averse to sharing personal information unless absolutely necessary, would I be forced to identify who I was every time I logged onto the Internet via the library’s wifi? Or even the computers they provide to the public?
Would the homeless in search of social services but without identification or the displaced in search of work but without a place to call a permamnent residence or the lonely seeking a virtual community be turned away because they were not card-carrying members of the library system?
Would users be forced to say, “It is I, cardholder 24601” each time they wanted to pen an anonymous letter to the editor or to their council person?
In a word, yes.
The clerk, oracle of all knowledge that is relevant to the day-to-day operations of things biblio, affirmed that without a library card patrons would not have access to the library’s wifi system because of a need to make sure those who used the free service were taxpayers and that they were also accountable in case anything went hinky with one of the computers.
Word came from a library priestess that the new system would provide a faster, more efficient and robust wifi experience for everyone.
Well, for everyone who has the proper ID and chooses to sign up for a library card.
Realizing there are other giants to joust I left without pressing the issue.
There are venues where access to the Internet via wifi is provided, albeit for a price. In some instances a cup of coffee or 99 cent cheeseburger is enough to surf the world wide web anonymously. But not at the library, which to me is slightly disconcerting.
Call me Crazy.
