Celebrate Your Freedom to Read with Your ICPL Card

Iowa City is bustling with students once again. The annual flux from one apartment or dorm to another, complete with the obligatory week of couch surfing, has finally passed, making way for the start of classes, football, and pumpkin spice seasons. As you start the school year, settle into the new fall routine, and discover which back-to-school essentials will prove most useful, I want to remind you of another annual tradition.

Every September for the last thirty-six years, the American Library Association, with libraries nationwide, has celebrated National Library Card Sign-Up Month. This promotion syncs with starting Kindergarten and the back-to-school season to ensure equitable early childhood access to everything libraries offer. Considering the wealth of materials, programming, events, and support at the Iowa City Public Library alone, library cards are one of the most cost-effective back-to-school supplies for families.

At ICPL, we advocate for and support our young readers by giving every public school student three public library cards when they start school. With the click of a button, Iowa City Community School District-issued student IDs work as library cards at ICPL, Coralville Public, and North Liberty Community libraries. With the Access to Information and Materials (AIM) card, students can borrow three physical book items from each library without liability for loss or damage. Students can also access the Johnson County Libraries' digital consortium collection.

Frugal college students would do well to remember that ICPL is here to serve them too! The public library can meet all of your leisure reading and watching needs. We have study and meeting spaces for your groups to gather, online materials, classes, programs, and a robust inter-library loan system. All Iowa City residents are also welcome to get cards for the University of Iowa Libraries for academic library needs.

Here in the Iowa City of Literature, we are fortunate: our local libraries are well-supported and funded. Much of this support and funding is driven by community use. Circulation and usage of our materials and facilities dictate state funding allocations and what items continue to populate our collections. Our space is finite. If an item does not earn its keep on the shelf, then it cannot stay. By supporting your public library with a card, checking out materials, asking us to purchase materials you want, hosting events in our spaces, and attending programs, you ensure access to these and other services for everyone in our community. By using the library, you are keeping items on our shelves; you are standing up for our community’s ability to read what, how, when, and if we like.

This September, consider a library card as more than a vital back-to-school item. Your library card is a show of support in solidarity with every member of our community. Affirm your belief in everyone’s inalienable first amendment rights, get a library card, and use it freely!