Youth Access Policy

The UT Arlington Library provides a welcoming environment conducive to research and life-long learning. Children and young adults are welcome to use the facilities under the following guidelines:

Parental Supervision

  • Persons under 18 years old and unaffiliated with UTA (i.e. not students, faculty or staff) must be accompanied and supervised by a parent or guardian.
  • Unaccompanied youth may be asked to leave the Library or may be reported to the UT Arlington police for their non-supervised status.
  • Exceptions will be made for youth participating in school or university sponsored programs and activities.

Computer Usage

  • To use a Library computer, youth must request a temporary guest account.
  • He/she must submit a Parental Consent Form AND a photo ID to be granted a guest account.

Library Cards

  • Youth may get a UT Arlington Library card to check out books, provided he/she submits a Parental Consent Form. A card can be acquired through:
  • Youth may check out up to 5 books at a time for 21 days with the option of up to 2 renewals if the material is not needed by someone else.

Parental Consent

Download and Fill Out the Parental Consent Form. (PDF)

The purpose of the consent form is three-fold:

  • The parent or guardian agrees to accept responsibility for the materials checked out by their child or young adult.
  • The parent or guardian recognizes that the UT Arlington Library is an adult academic facility and as such practices academic freedom of information for all registered library users and is not responsible for the topics of the materials chosen by their users.
  • The parent or guardian understands that at the UT Arlington Library academic freedom of information includes unfiltered and unmonitored access on the Internet. For further information, see the UT Arlington Library Computer Use Policy.
  • Failure to provide a completed consent form means that the youth will be unable to check out materials from the UT Arlington Library.

Academic Freedom

The Library provides information from a variety of perspectives on subjects that may be considered controversial. We provide equal access to information and materials for all customers and do not restrict any customer, including children, from access to any of our resources. If a parent or guardian does not wish their child to access particular materials, they should discuss these restrictions in the context of their parent-child relationship.