Think back to the day you got your very first library card. Did you feel grown-up because you had a card just like your parents had in their wallets. Perhaps you felt like you had been given the “keys to the kingdom” being able to check out, read, and take home any book you wanted. Were you so excited that you had to hold it in the car on the way home before accidentally dropping it between the seats? Or maybe you got your first library card as an adult. What doors has it unlocked for you?
Getting a library card is a rite of passage, as well as a necessity for many of us. Often, it’s one of the first things many people do after moving to a new town or starting at a new school. Having a library card gives you power–the power to obtain free resources and services that are unavailable to those without one.
U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennet suggested a movement to get a library card in the hands of every child back in 1987. Since then, libraries celebrate Library Card Sign-up Month each September, encouraging members of their communities to get library cards.
With September just around the corner, how will your library celebrate Library Card Sign-up Month this year? Free promotional resources are available on ALA’s Library Card Sign-up Month webpage.
Is your library doing something special this September? Share it with your Wyoming library community! Send photos and information following your event to Christi Weinzierl, WSL’s Communications and Grants Specialist at christi.weinzierl1@wyo.gov to share on the WSL blog and in the monthly Outrider newsletter.