![Chair Amy Koester shared Skokie Public Library's spectacularly striped card! [Photo courtesy of Amy Koester.]](https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/skokie-librarycard.jpg)
In honor of National Library Card Sign-Up month, the Public Awareness Committee wanted to call attention to this amazing campaign and to also share some of the stories behind our cards and our library’s cards.
Christine Dengel Baum shared: Personally, my card was JUST updated. Our library had this ancient typewriter they would use and then laminate the paper. Before we could sign our own names we had a juvenile card (green) and once we could sign it, as a rite of passage, we got yellow. Then last year we upgraded the system so now it’s plastic, has our picture on it, and includes artwork from the artist who painted our murals.
And as for me, I remember getting my first library card in third grade. You had to sign your name in cursive to count as a “signature” back in those days and our schools began cursive instruction at the end of second grade. I finally felt ready in third. I had brought a hot pink pen to use and I had practiced writing my formal name instead of “Katie”. At the last minute, I chickened out and signed my card as Katie Salo. The pen smudged over the years and became a pink streak across the signature line. When I was a sophomore in college, I had to turn over that white card with green lettering and a large pink smudge where my name used to be. I will forever be sad that I couldn’t keep that first library card.
So, tell us, what is YOUR library card’s story? Does the library you work at have a unique design? Let us know in the comments!
Katie Salo is an Early Literacy Librarian at Indian Prairie Public Library in Darien, IL and is writing this post for the Public Awareness Committee. You can reach her at simplykatie(at)gmail(dot)com or at Storytime Katie.