By Mikaela Michalopoulos and Joanne Lee
Since 1987, libraries across the country have celebrated Library Card Sign-up Month each September. This annual campaign encourages people of all ages to obtain a library card and utilize their local libraries. Additionally, it highlights the importance of having a card and the valuable resources and services that are available. A cardholder can borrow books, access e-content, obtain museum passes, and borrow tools from the library’s vast collection. Programs such as book groups, crafting circles, and educational presentations are also offered. Everyone can access Wi-Fi and technology to support lifelong learning.
For this September’s campaign, we interviewed community members on how having a library card can enrich everyone’s life. Individuals from the fire, police and school departments enthusiastically volunteered their time to speak with us. The participants shared stories about receiving their first library cards, their favorite books, what services they use at or through the library, and the reasons why it’s essential to have a library card.
Most of our participants fondly remember signing up for a library card at a very early age. Courtney Cramer, assistant principal at the Wayland Middle School, grew up in town and remembers her mom taking her to the library for the first time when she was four or five years old. Now, she brings her kids to the library. In addition to checking out books, her “little one loves to play in the downstairs area,” she said.
Betsy Gavron, assistant superintendent of schools, uses the Libby app to read and listen to her favorite books, which “opens up a whole new window of culture that I wouldn’t have experienced otherwise,” she said. Sgt. Justen Kazan and Firefighter/Paramedic Ryan Murphy brush up on their professional skills by reading books on leadership or memoirs, such as “A Thousand Naked Strangers” by Kevin Hazzard. Lauren Keating, a co-response clinician, attends adult and children’s programming at the library as well as using discount passes, which “helps our family be able to go to museums and save some money.”
Cristina Sandza-Donovan, assistant principal at Loker, grew up in Puerto Rico, where there are fewer public libraries, and noted that libraries are “something that at times we take for granted, [specifically] the opportunity to have access for free to not only books but any sort of reading and visual materials.”
“Libraries are important; not just that we enjoy them, but having the resources for all people to use; anyone is welcome here and anyone can use the public library,” said Win Treese, who co-founded the library’s Girls Who Code program before becoming a library trustee.
Stop by the WFPL to register for a new library card or renew your current card and take advantage of all the opportunities available to you. Anyone who signs up for a new card during September will be entered into a raffle. To learn more, follow us on Instagram @wayland_library and Facebook @WaylandLibrary and visit waylandlibrary.org/services/library-card.
Michalopoulos is the circulation clerk and Lee is assistant director at the Wayland Free Public Library.
