Grace A. Dow Memorial Library recognizes National Library Card Sign-Up Month through the end of Sept

With only a week or so left in September, there’s still time to celebrate National Library Card Sign-Up Month at the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library (GADML). This month is when libraries nationwide join the American Library Association to remind people that signing up for a library card opens a myriad of opportunities and information access.

“Libraries are for everyone, and we want everyone here,” says Kathleen Friend, GADML Patrons Relations Supervisor. Friend, who has been with the library for six years, says the library has so much beyond books, magazines and audio, including puzzles, board games, activity kits and many items that fall under the umbrella of The Library of Things: telescopes, canopies, binoculars, chairs, metal detectors and much more. “[This is] stuff people maybe wouldn’t normally purchase,” and with a library card, they don’t have to, she says.

As part of September’s celebration, GADML will have an end-of-month-drawing to give away prizes like a Bluetooth speaker and a Kindle Fire for people who sign up for a library card. Current cardholders have the opportunity to get a newly designed library card for free, and they will also be entered in a mystery drawing each time their card is used.

Kendra Raub, Associate Librarian at GADML for eight years, says having a library card is important for people, including children, in order to have access to all of the library’s resources. Like Friend, she says the library has “way more than just books.” Games and reading kits that help young readers with skills such as phonics, vocabulary and comprehension are just a few of these items.

Adult Services Librarian Ann Jarvis, who has been at GADML for 26 years, says a library card also allows patrons not only to have access to the physical items in the collection, but also to online resources that can be accessed from home including books, music and movies.

She says the library has three major collections of digital services:

• Hoopla - audiobooks, eBooks, music and video.
• Libby - eBooks, audiobooks and magazines.
• Canopy - streaming video.

Beyond these downloadables, Jarvis says The Midland Daily News, Consumer Reports, LinkedIn Learning and Creativebug are available online to GADML patrons, and having access to computers as well as simply enjoying the space is available to everyone.

Many people remember getting a library card as a child as a kind of rite of passage. Raub says she remembers coming to GADML when she was in early elementary school. Her mom worked at the library, and she said she felt special when she was there. “It was like, this [her library card] is mine, and I can choose what I want to read. I felt grown up,” she says.

Mary Kielpinski, Midland resident, says the library means a whole lot to her. “I get caught up in the characters [I read about]. I told my great grandson, ‘You can go anywhere in a book and learn about other people, other countries and other cultures.’” 

Kielpinski also says reading helps keep her brain active through what she reads as well as through things like a crochet kit she recently checked out. “For me it’s a learning process other than just entertainment. [When my helper] comes to my apartment, I’m more excited about the bag of books from the library than I am about the groceries; it’s an adventure for me,” she says.

“We’re very much a community-driven library,” Friend says. “We listen to what they want. We want to make sure everyone knows what the library has to offer and what our available resources are, even for those who are not readers.”

ne of these valuable resources, Friend says, is the library’s staff (50 full and part-time plus approximately 10 more in the summer). “They’re an amazing group packed with knowledge. They’re kind and will help people find out if they don’t know something.” As she says, “Sometimes Google is just not enough.”
 
Jarvis says, “There’s so much misinformation out there and people are overwhelmed with ‘facts’, true or not. [But the library] has no political agenda or financial reason to promote one thing or another. It’s a good place to go to find unbiased information. The library holds a special place in the community by being neutral.”

GADML expects to issue about 350 new library cards due to this month’s celebration, in addition to the 33,000+ that are currently active according to Friend. More information on the Midland library and National Library Card Sign-up month can be found at gadml.org.