The Last Word
Hoekstra, Steven J.
THE LAST WORD Steven J. Hoekstra Reader, Stay Home As I approached the space-age equivalent of a turnstile at the University of Chicago's Regenstein Library, the entrance guard sighed, "ID."...
...I explained that I wasn't enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, and she referred me to a nearby counter...
...I assumed that I would have better luck at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Library, which is partially funded by taxpayers, including me...
...UW Country Club—Members Only was scrawled across a wall, and on the pavement someone had emblazoned Achtung...
...I didn't, but I obligingly produced my driver's license...
...Look," I protested, "I just want to read a book...
...Only University of Chicago students, faculty, and authorized affiliates can enter...
...What...
...She put down her pen and looked at me...
...I'm unarmed and I'm not going to jump out a window...
...I shook my head...
...I was taken aback...
...Can't you read...
...I'm sorry, sir," he said without facing me...
...What is your local address...
...Nothing exotic," I assured her...
...He explained that the library was trying to reduce the incidence of assault, indecent exposure, and vandalism, so it was screening out undesirables...
...Furthermore, the papers noted, the administration was instituting a reduction of hours at the main library, which now closes at 10 p.m...
...No permanent address...
...I handed him a card from my school in California...
...what do you want to use the library for...
...All I want is to read my book here...
...But Chicago's holy of holies permits only an elite—those who pay $ 10,000 a year to be University of Chicago students—to Steven J. Hoekstra, an editorial intern at The Progressive, attended Deep Springs College, where the library is open all night long to everyone...
...We can't give out day passes after seven...
...We can't let you in...
...He probably believed libraries are for people who want to read books...
...She pointed impatiently to a sign in front of her: Present UW ID...
...You can't get in with this," he said, looking away...
...I said I didn't have one...
...on Friday and Saturday...
...Student ID," he said testily...
...As he escorted me out, the guard handed me a set of papers that explained the restrictions on library use...
...The papers also claimed that the new security measures had already proven effective: The number of entries in the library "incident report" log had diminished...
...Yep, I thought, I'll bet he was,strange...
...Your Papers Please!, flanked by swastikas...
...Alerted by my excited tone, another security guard appeared...
...said a woman standing guard when I approached the turnstile...
...I smiled and asked if that was an entrance requirement...
...As I handed her my license, I pointed out that it didn't list my current address...
...Come on, your ID...
...It's seven o'clock," she said...
...Just to look up a book...
...We need your address to let you in...
...But as long as you're here...
...One of the last items in the list of incidents caught my eye: "Strange man stopped at ID check...
...You're not a Chicago student...
...I'm sorry, sir...
...presumably, students should have better things to do on those nights...
...Students pay "good money to go to school here," he said, and they deserve to be protected...
...But the graffiti spray-painted at the entrance hinted at similar restrictions...
...Since then, philanthropists and communities, persuaded that an educated citizenry was a prerequisite for a healthy democracy, had erected municipal and school libraries in almost every town in the country, throwing open the temple doors to the public...
...The woman there frowned...
...enter, denying the rest of us access to its four million volumes...
...I observed that in screening nonstu-dents and barring the homeless, the library was making some questionable judgments about who was likely to commit a crime...
...A hundred years ago and more, most libraries were exclusive sanctuaries...
...she asked...
...You know the rules...
Vol. 49 • February 1985 • No. 2
