Thursday, January 17, 2008

Presidents and Books

Presidential elections are pretty serious business.

And so is checking out a library book from the Shreve Memorial Library system, apparently.

Since many of the new Times' staffers are Shreveport transplants, we have to go through the trouble of getting new licenses, library cards, voter registration cards and other life necessities.

Last week my co-worker Velda Hunter and I went to register to vote in Caddo parish. We were out in five minutes--maybe less. All we needed was a form of picture identification and some proof that we actually lived in the parish: a checkbook, recent bill or updated drivers license would do.

I suggested we walk to the downtown branch of Shreve Memorial Library to get new library cards. I figued it would be a snap.

I was wrong.

I needed identification and two other pieces of mail that said I lived in the parish. My Tennessee license and check stub and online bank statement were not enough, though they were at the registrar's office.

Come back when you have something mailed to your address, the woman at the desk told us.

We tried to protest. We said we had just come from registering to vote. We even said we loved to read books. Did we need to use the computer? We could have gotten a guest pass for that.

No! We don't need computers. Both of us have two computers for work and one in our homes. What we needed was a library card, but the woman was having none of it.

I can register to elect a new president but I can't check out a library book.

Gee whiz.

I guess kudos are in order to the lady in the library who followed the rules.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

When/if you get a LA drivers license, you will need your old drivers license, your social security card, and your birth certificate.

I recently moved, so I had to setup new water service. They made me drive down to the main office for the water company so I could setup the account. It's bad enough that they forced me to tell them my social security number, but I had to say it in front of a bunch of people that were there because they hadn't paid their water bills. The girl working behind the counter wrote down my full name, SS#, and my date of birth in a notebook next to her computer. Now I'm paying $15 a month so I can monitor my credit. Fortunately, I haven't had anyone try to steal my ID yet.

Anonymous said...

I had the same experience when I went to the library here. I gave up. Funny how you can register to vote somewhere with a driver's license from the wrong area but can't get a book to educate yourself. Who knew they were so discriminatory in letting you help yourself...

Anonymous said...

THAT'S A DAMN SHAME ASHLEY!!! I was home (Shreveport) for Christmas and got a card in 2 minutes...probably b/c mine was jsut a renewal and not a brand new one...even though I live in Dallas now. How's that for irony?! You're right, kudos to the lady, but DAMN...can't a brotha/sista read a book before I go vote?! LoL, they say "if you wanna ... ... put it in a book". You know how to fill in the elipses-didn't wanna go there in the blog. Be easy girl!

-HEMJr

Ashley Northington said...

Randy: Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep that in mind. My license expires in July. Now...I gotta find my SS Card.

Question for you: Are you required in Louisiana to publish your SS number on your license?

Anon: Don't give up. I'm going back this week to get my card.

Howard: You are so crazy! But there is hope for me. By Friday I hope to be a SML card carrier, lol!

Anonymous said...

You don't have to put your SS # on your card, just tell them you don't want it on there when they ask you for it!