That's incredibly unfortunate. Is this also true for local K-12 students? In high school I lived near universities and recall my parents [0] taking me to the library to do research/reading on various topics. Including checking out books. I never did that as an adult without any kind of school affiliation, though. Mostly because until recently I didn't live near a university (or near enough for it to make sense to drive to).

[0] I didn't have a driver's license, too young at the first high school, and insurance was too much for my parents or me to afford at the second.

At my undergrad school, which was pretty open for physical access pre-COVID (who knows what happens now), I'd need to pay for a borrowing card to actually check out a book. And electronic access seems to have been tightened up. You used to be able to access most of their electronic catalog from a public terminal on the local network but you couldn't seem to do that last time I tried maybe about 18 months ago. (It wasn't a big deal so I didn't feel like bothering a librarian.)

And some universities will definitely require ID to enter the library.

At the UBC libraries, at least when I was studying there, it was common to see students yelling and running around in a hurry after returning from the washroom. Laptops, iPads, and cell phones left out in the open were common targets for thieves.