Want a Library Card in the U.K.? You'll Need to Provide Your Medical and Sexual History First

Posted on August 28, 2011

If you'd like to get a library card in the United Kingdom, you may be in for a bit of a surprise when you read the application form. The form is now worse than the long-form U.S. census questionnaire. According to The Telegraph, the form now asks all kinds of intrusive questions, such as whether you've ever had a sex change or suffered from depression.

So, what else does your local library want to know about you before you will be allowed to check out a copy of The Corrections or War and Peace? They want to know if you have a "hidden impairment" such as cancer, HIV or diabetes. You must describe your sexual orientation. You must answer whether you "consider yourself to be a Gypsy or Traveller?" and if you are transgendered.

If you haven't run screaming from library yet, you must reveal your religious beliefs, whether you are blind or deaf, and if you happen to be Chinese or Vietnamese. The questions vary by city. In Brent council, in north London, applicants are asked if they have ever suffered from a mental health disorder such as depression or schizophrenia, or if they have ever had cancer or are HIV positive. We have no idea what any of this has to do with your ability to return a library book in a timely fashion.

The Telegraph quotes Paul Convery, the Islington Councillor responsible for this madness, who explains the questionnaire by saying, "The point here is that we want to know the extent to which new library users reflect the demography of our existing library users and our population, or not. This is a pretty standard business principle: know your customers -- not intimate details but basic stuff." He now claims the questions are optional, although that doesn't appear to be made clear to applicants.