You may have received a colorful postcard in your mailbox late last month encouraging residents to sign-up for a library card at the Morton Grove Public Library.
The new initiative, according to Jeffrey Ray, the library’s head of circulation, aligns with September’s annual Library Card Sign-Up Month where libraries all over the country promote having an active membership with the local library. The month’s theme is also supported by the American Library Association.
All residents are given a temporary library card that gave everyone “access to our digital resources for two weeks,” Emily Whitmore, adult services librarian, said in an email.
Digital resources at the library include access to Hoopla, a service where patrons can download music and movies to their personal devices; OverDrive, a digital program that offers e-books and audiobooks; Learning Express Library, where residents have access to both collegiate tests and professional exams; and many others.
When residents sign up for an actual card, they are given full access to all digital resources at the library along with its traditional services.
“The point of this is to reach out to people who never used our library before and show them the great resources we have to offer,” Ray said. “We’re giving people a preview of what they can have if they just come in and sign up for a library card.”
Around 9,000 households received the postcards late last month, he added. Along with temporary access to its programs, new card holders who sign up are entered into a raffle for an iPad mini. Those with expiring cards this year are given an opportunity to renew for a chance at a different prize.
The concept to send postcards came from a presentation at the 2015 ALA Conference. According to Ray a California library had success in sending postcards to its residents. Upon returning, Morton Grove librarians felt it was a concept that would work in its village.
“It was pretty cool to see people come into the library with the postcards and see it was working,” he said of the results the team saw a few days after postcards were delivered. “One of the joys in being a librarian is getting people to come in and use us.”
The temporary access cards can be used until Sept. 15, but people can sign up for a library card throughout the month of September if interested in entering into the raffle.
Lindsey Compton is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
