September is Library Card Sign-up Month, and that means one thing: A library card gives you super powers. Check out the library’s web site, www.fvrl.org, and you’ll find out how a library card saves you money. That’s a super power right there. But there’s more. Back in September 2018 I wrote a column about the benefits of signing up for a library card, and I have decided to repurpose that column — with a 2022 update. So, here it goes.
We would love for every person in the many communities we serve to have a library card. Not only can you use it to check out books, a library card gives you the ability to do this: borrow DVDs, children’s music CDs and board games; download eBooks and eAudio from our extensive digital collection; stream music from the Freegal Music database; and search the library’s selection of online resources including Ancestry Library for genealogical information, PressReader for access to over 7000 newspapers and magazines from 150 countries, and the Chilton Library for auto repair information. In other words, a library card is a very powerful tool.
For our youngest library patrons, library cards are also full of magic. We know this because we get to see the faces of our new readers whenever they get their first library card. As adults we tend to take such privileges for granted, but when a child receives a library card, the whole world opens up through the magic of reading. Library staff have the honor of seeing these moments of wonder, and trust me, it never gets old.
To all our current and future library patrons, here’s to you. I’ve put together a short list of recently published picture books with library or reading-related themes, and while I hope it inspires parents and caregivers to check out these titles for their little readers at home, I encourage adults to add a few — or all — to your own reading list. Perhaps you’ll get to relive that moment when you signed up for your first library card, allowing you to become a library patron, a member of an incredible reading community, the holder of a powerful and magical tool.
