September is National Library Card Sign-up Month

September is Library Card Sign-up Month, a time when the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries nationwide join together to remind parents, caregivers and students that signing up for a library card is the first step towards academic achievement and lifelong learning.



The campaign first started in 1987 as a response to then Secretary of Education, William Bennett, who stated: “Let’s have a campaign … Every child should obtain a library card and use it.” The ALA took Secretary Bennett’s words seriously and teamed up with the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) to start the campaign.

Libraries have and do amazing things—they give everyone a chance to explore their passions and become their best selves through media, resources, lifelong learning, and more.

Doubt the value of getting a library card? Here are just a few of a vast array of materials, programs and services that Beaufort County Library offers:

• Borrow books, e-books, audio books, movies, television series, documentaries, magazines, music albums, comic books or even a device from us via the SCLENDS catalog, Hoopla, or Cloud Library. 
• Book a Meeting Room for a public meeting or presentation.
• Perform research in our buildings and oftentimes from home:
• DISCUS
• Consumer Reports
• Morningstar
• Online Obituary Index 
• Beaufort District Collection
•  Scan, fax, email and print items. 
• Attend a library sponsored program for all ages, birth to (almost) death.
• Get personal help from a reference librarianbdc@bcgov.net bdc@bcgov.net

Sign up today! If you were to become a super dooper incredible Library card holder, you could literally get hundreds even thousands of dollars worth per year of value with your free Library card.

Take the BDC as an example. Let's say that you get a seat at "Altamaha and the Yamasee Indians" before they are all gone and that you attend "Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names" (no registration required; first-come, first-seated at Bluffton Branch.) Already you will have received $30 in value from your library card.

Let's say that you borrow one bestseller per month. By the end of the year, the value received would be $204.00. Your grandchildren come to visit. Each book that you borrow to read them a bedtime story provides you with $17.00 in value. Or you can read popular magazines online with Flipster, received a value of $5 per magazine, and drop your personal subscriptions at home saving you even more money. See how quickly the value of being a Beaufort County Library cardholder grows?


Please visit your favorite Beaufort County Library branch library during September to see what's new at the Library and take part in the celebration by using your library card to explore our collections, services and programs.