Library card sign-up events can be challenging outside the walls of the library, but with good planning and communication, they can be a success. This post comes from Rebecca at Norwood, who talks about how two public libraries using different circulation systems worked with the public school they both serve to get students their cards.
As part of the celebration of Read Across America Day, the reading teachers at Norwood-Norfolk Central School invited staff from the Hepburn Library of Norfolk and Norwood Public Library to register kids for library cards. For public libraries, going into the schools can be a way to reach kids who never make it to the library, and sometimes those outreach visits can result in new regular patrons. Any kind of school outreach is valuable, but issuing library cards is perhaps the trickiest piece. Here's how it worked for us:
A reading teacher contacted Vicky (Hepburn Library of Norfolk) to ask about getting cards for kids. Vicky sent registration cards to the school, and the cards were sent home with students. Their parents filled them out and returned them to the school, and the school brought them to the Norfolk library. The school made sure that the registration cards were organized by grade and classroom, to make issuing the cards easier on the day of the event.
Because the Hepburn Library of Norfolk serves the upper half of the district, and Norwood Public Library serves the lower half, cards were issued to kids based on their home address. We also had the challenge of issuing cards from two circulation systems: Norfolk uses Mandarin, and Norwood uses Sirsi. Norfolk staff registered all their kids with Mandarin and then heroically came to use Sirsi at Norwood to issue the rest of the cards. Each library card was clipped to the registration card and organized by grade and teacher.
On the day of the event, library staff took the cards to the school. We had a schedule ahead of time, so we knew when each class was coming. We gave the cards to the kids, had them sign the back, and kept the registration cards to take back to the library. We also brought pencils and bookmarks for kids who weren't issued cards, so everyone came away from our table with something. Also, every kid received a sheet of paper inviting them to visit one of the two libraries and complete a short list of activities (read a book or magazine, do a coloring sheet, do a puzzle, tell us about a book they've read). We stamped the paper, and then the kids took the paper to the elementary principal for a prize.
The final count was 164 new cards for Norfolk and 128 for Norwood. This didn't include the number of kids whose registrations were incomplete or whose registrations had been returned only for us to discover that they already had cards.
Having the school incentivize visiting the library was a huge part of the success of the outreach visit. We've had new families in almost every day to do the activities. They're excited to see their local library and what we have to offer. It's a great opportunity to chat with parents about our regular programs, too.
What we would do differently next time: emphasize to the school staff the importance of giving the registration cards to us in plenty of time. We asked for at least a week, but we were given 75 late registrations the day before the event, which made Norfolk staff work incredibly hard to get everything done in time.
We also would ask classroom teachers to let us speak to each class ahead of the event to explain to kids what a library card can do for them, and then make sure that families got a notice with library information, programs, services, and so on, with their new card.
All in all, we were enormously happy to have been given a chance to participate in a school-wide event.
National Library Card Sign-up Month is September. Start planning your event today!
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