Do you have your card?
The card that opens the door to countless fictional and non-fiction works?
That allows you to check out movies, books, magazines and more?
September is National Library Card Month.
For an annual cost of $0 (unless you accidentally forget to return a book or movie on time or lose the item), you too can check out books on any subject that tickles your fancy. And even if you do occasionally get fined, you can sometimes pay them the best way possible — by reading, with the “read down your fine” programs.
Maybe sitting in your home during COVID-19 has made you look at the interior of your home too frequently and see some projects you think you could tackle yourself. Your local library has books that can walk you through a number of projects.
And if the library does not have it? They have connections to libraries across the state that can get the book to your hands in a few days wait via Interlibrary Loan.
Maybe you’ve read a book like Jurassic Park and you want to compare how the book looks to this movie that all these people have been raving about. You can check Cole Library or Lisbon Library’s pages to see what DVDs or movies might be available. Cole routinely adds new movies to its collection each month, a range of bestsellers, adapted from books and independent films or popular television series.
Perhaps you want to have a group to talk about a book, to have a sense of community. Libraries routinely offer discussion groups on a book once a month for all different age groups.
Maybe it’s just wanting to read an article in a local periodical. Local libraries maintain memberships to magazines.
Maybe you want to read while traveling, but don’t want to risk losing your book on the plane. Local libraries have a number of digital book resources that can be checked out to a digital reading device, so books can be at your fingertips via Bridges.
Computer access. Storytimes for young and beginning readers to gain love of books. Special readings and events.
All this here with just your library card. And in Lisbon and Mount Vernon, those cards give you access to both communities libraries and their catalogs with reciprocity between the communities.
At Lisbon, librarian Amy White notes that to get a library card is as simple as filling out a simple form with name, address and contact information and a card can get printed on the spot.
“Since the changes that COVID-19 wrought, if someone doesn’t feel comfortable coming in they can email me at [email protected] anytime or call 319-455-2800 during our open hours and we can create the card with the info they give us,” White said.
So do you have your library card yet? Today is a great day to get it.