September is Library Card Signup Month

Since 1987, Library Card Sign-up Month has been held in September to mark the beginning of the school year. However, there have been a variety of campaigns well before then, especially from women’s groups, to encourage as many residents as possible to take a first step in connecting to the widest array of library resources by getting a library card. Some of the most impassioned campaigns were in the 1960’s, and aimed at women, but with the intent that if you reach the women, you ultimately reach the whole family.

In February, 1963, “The Shreveport Journal” reported that the Louisiana Federation of Women’s Clubs, which included Northwest Louisiana, needed to come up with an entry for the Community Improvement Program of the nationwide General Federation of Women’s Clubs, which would fit their district’s theme for the year, “Women’s Role in Knowledge, Action.” Their simple, yet impactful, solution was a library card project, where they urged every single one of their approximately twelve hundred members to secure and use a library card. The library card project was implemented by Mrs. H.J. Haskins, Community Improvements Division Chairman, and Mrs. R.H. Sexton, Libraries Service Division Chairman.

In 1963, the Home Demonstration Clubs of Bossier Parish had a library card initiative for the week of April 21-27, which was National Library Week that year. Home Demonstration clubs existed through much of the twentieth century in even the smallest of Bossier Parish’s communities, where State Home Demonstration Agents could teach local women homemaking techniques. The initial emphasis of Home Demonstration work was teaching and aiding in food production and preservation, but the clubs evolved to teach all homemaking skills and knowledge in order to help women raise a happy, healthy family.

The Bossier home demonstration club initiative was announced in the April 24th, 1963, “Bossier Press” newspaper with the headline, “Library Card is Ticket to Knowledge,” followed by a glowing list of a library card’s benefits: “It entitles the holder to take part in one of the most valuable services offered in America today. It is available to rich and poor alike, and gives one access to the treasures of mankind found within the covers of a book.”

Even if a club member had a card, the week was meant to encourage card holders to actually use their library cards by enrolling in a reading program and to read a book each month for a year. Club members were also encouraged to promote “family reading programs at home,” with the ambition of strengthening family life by reading “for enjoyment, enrichment, information and enlightenment, ” ideally for the habit to grow into a year-round activity. The article ended in dramatic fashion by stating, “In the years ahead, America’s progress may well be determined by the number of library cards in use by all its citizens. For it is only by being well-informed that a people can remain free, and a well-used card is an assurance that this freedom will be safeguarded.”

Join the festivities of Library Card Sign-Up Month by getting your own library card today. Or, if you already have a library card, take advantage of the chance for patrons of Bossier Parish Libraries to help a friend enjoy the benefits of our libraries and also win a super prize. For the month of September, anyone who has a library card can give a ticket to a friend who doesn't have an account with Bossier Parish libraries. If their friend brings back the completed ticket, both patrons will be entered into a drawing to win a fabulous gift basket. Be sure to share with your friends the benefits of visiting the History Center for our local history exhibits and our comprehensive genealogical and local history research assistance, and our informative and fascinating programs.

The next History Center program will be an author talk with Philip C. Shackelford, Library Director at South Arkansas College and author of “Rise of the Mavericks: The U.S. Air Force Security Service and the Cold War, 1948 – 1979.” This free program will be in the History Center meeting room at 6:00 PM on Monday, September, 25th. The Bossier Parish Libraries History Center is located at 2206 Beckett St, Bossier City, LA. We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717, our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org and the website is www.bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok

Images: 

• Color photo of interior of Benton Branch Library. Two women check out a book while a gentleman in the back, possibly Don Whittington, reads. 1959.
• Photo of Judy Nugent and Mrs. Evelyn Warren, Librarian, at the Bossier City Branch Library, c.1966

Article By: Pam Carlisle