It was 5:45pm on a warm August evening. Four of us from the Mountain View Public Library were seated behind long folding tables in front of our bookmobile van, a mobile billboard for the library. On this night, there was no bookmobile service planned, but we watched with anticipation as families started filtering through the main gate of Castro Elementary School. Their first stop was a backpack station, where each child chose a backpack full of school supplies donated by the local Community Services Agency. Some stopped at tables advertising other social services, and a few stopped by our library tables. Most continued on to their child’s classroom for their teacher’s Back-to-School Night presentation.
I had been working with the school on this event for weeks. The new principal wanted to promote both the bookmobile service at the school and the library itself. He was a huge fan, and a big believer that public libraries could move the needle for this Title I school. We came up with an audacious plan: As part of every teacher’s slide presentation about the new school year, three of the slides would introduce the library and its benefits for students. Every family would also receive a simple library card application in both English and Spanish. The teachers were to talk about the library and then give everyone a few minutes to fill out the application.
At 6:30, the bell rang and families began to stream out of the classrooms, making a beeline for the library tables. In a minute, people were lined up five deep. We were ready. Three of us spoke Spanish, we had stacks of new library cards, and we had a couple computers just in case. We worked as fast as we could: we took an application and wrote the barcode number of a new library card on it. We checked the adult’s photo ID, then handed over the new card and a bookmark with our circulation information. We gave them a quick rundown of how to use the card and their PIN number, and they were done. Each one took a minute or two.
After half an hour we had pretty much gotten to everyone in line, and those that attended the second presentations from 6:30-7:00 started arriving. By 7:30 we were done—we had issued 108 library cards in one hour. We took the paper applications back to the library and spent the rest of the evening entering the data into the system.
I often think about this night when considering how libraries and schools can collaborate to create better outcomes for kids. A number of important factors contributed to the success of this library card drive:
A Clear Goal
We originally came to the school principal with a specific goal. The bookmobile would be on campus every few weeks after school, but most of the kids in the afterschool program didn’t have library cards. The catch: they needed their parents to be present to get a library card. We used an existing event where almost every parent is present. If your library’s policies are creating friction, where can you apply the grease?
A Champion for Your Cause
Having the school’s principal immediately understand our dilemma and want to help was key. He was so enthusiastic about the public library that we were able to brainstorm various ways each of us could contribute to the plan. His buy-in is what unlocked everything else—the slide time in classrooms, the paper applications handed to every family, the sense that this was a school priority and not just a library ask. Who do you know who is a champion for libraries? Are they in a position to open doors for you?
Flexibility and Willingness to Try
We had no paper library card application—it simply didn’t exist. But faced with the prospect of reaching so many families at once, our administration was willing to create one. It was a simple form, just the basics needed to issue a card: name, address, date of birth, a signature. It took a day to draft and approve. That small act of administrative flexibility made the whole night possible. What’s one small change at your library that could have an outsized impact?
The Right Team
It’s easy to overlook the human infrastructure behind a night like this, but it was essential. Three of the four of us on-site spoke Spanish—not incidentally, but by design, because we knew the community we were serving. At a Title I school where many families are more comfortable in a language other than English, that mattered enormously. Think about who on your team has the language skills, cultural knowledge, or community relationships to make an outreach event truly accessible. Building that capacity is its own kind of preparation.
What Could This Look Like in Your Community?
108 library cards in one hour is a number, but what it really means is 108 kids who can now meet the bookmobile after school and take home a Dog Man, or walk into the library and use a computer, attend a program, or simply belong. That’s what made this night memorable—not the logistics, but what the logistics made possible.
Is there a school principal in your community who believes in what libraries can do? An existing event where your target families will already be gathered? A policy your administration might be willing to revisit? With the right partners and the right catalysts, the most amazing things can happen—and a child walking out with their very first library card is a pretty amazing place to start.
Renee Ting is the Manager of Youth and Bookmobile Services at the Mountain View Public Library in Mountain View, California and co-chair of the 2025-26 Library Service to Underserved Children and Their Caregivers Committee.
Photo courtesy of Renee Ting