Maskmania II: Northside library’s Orwellian face-diaper signage freak-out

George Orwell’s Big Brother is alive and well at Albemarle County’s Northside Library, a branch of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (JMRL).

A March 15 walk-through revealed a vast sea of “Wear A Mask” signs throughout the facility—both outside and inside the building—in elevators, stairwells, meeting rooms and common areas. The implication of the messaging/propaganda campaign: “masking” is required to enter Northside.

In fact, masks are not presently compulsory in order to patronize the library; although, they have been previously.

A brief survey of local JMRL branches shows the paranoia as specific to Northside and indicative of Northside’s unique culture of fear.

Northside Library is notorious for its institutional maskmania. Throughout the COVID years double- and triple-masked drive-through employees insisted on patrons themselves being masked in order to receive window service.

The pandemic is over, but at Northside, the sickness lives on.