Library cards can tell you a lot about a person. If the card is worn and cracked, one might assume the owner is not careful with his possessions. Alternatively, it could mean the person values her possessions and wants them to last as long as possible—maybe with the help of some tape. If the card still looks brand new, it might mean that user does not use the library card very often. However, this person could also be an avid reader who has recently explored digital books offered by the Charlotte Community Library.
The applications that go with each new library card can tell us even more. These slips of paper tell us more than where a library user lives, phone number and email address. They provide us with a glimpse into that person’s life story. For example, an application can tell us if a patron gets married or divorced when a last name changes. An address change can tell us when a patron has moved out from a parent’s house for the first time, or perhaps moves houses to accommodate a growing family. The creation of a new children’s account or an upgrade from a children’s account to an adult account can show how the community is growing and changing over time.
The application cards for longtime patrons remind me of a tree’s growth rings. Initially there is only the paper and ink, but as time moves on, more and more layers of white-out and ink are added to reflect changes, both big and small. There are even a handful of cards that have accumulated so many layers that the expiration date section looks like a tiny snow-covered mountain.
Unfortunately, not everything the library card and its accompanying application tells us is positive. There are times when longtime patrons move out of the service area and no longer have the ability to visit on a weekly basis. Other times a patron will pass on and a family member will stop by to drop off the no-longer usable library card. These moments can be hard to move on from, but it is an inevitable part of working at a library.
Rather than focusing on the negative moments, I chose to look at the multitude of positive occasions that happen every day at Charlotte Community Library. Every day we have someone new applying for a library card or a patron returning to the library after an extended absence. Each of these individuals is a new page on the metaphorical story book that records the library’s history; some pages may be short, while others will go on for miles.
One question still remains: how will you use your library card to add to the history of Charlotte Community Library?
Written by Caitlyn Tanner
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