Letter: With reading material, it’s a parent’s right to know

Most parents are shocked when I tell them about the state law prohibiting them from knowing which library books their kids have checked out. They aren’t aware that, when they took their children to the library for that great American rite of passage — signing up for a library card — they were also signing away a parental right. They did not know that they might someday go to the library and be asked to pay an overdue fine on a particular book but, illogically, not be informed of the title of that book.

Who not only pays overdue fines on library material? Who provides the funding to run school and public libraries? Who is held financially responsible, in most libraries, for any lost or damaged materials? According to the American Library Association, whose role is it “to monitor his or her child’s individual reading life?” Parents! How can parents possibly fulfill these roles if they can’t find out which books their children have checked out?

This access to library records is especially important in school libraries, where parents do not usually accompany their children. Even in public libraries, it is easy for parents, especially parents with multiple children, to lose track of the material their children have checked out. House Bill 273 would allow parents to access their children’s library records. Please contact your representatives and tell them they ought to pass this bill.

Arlene Quaratiello

Atkinson