St. Paul Public Library in Minnesota had an unexpectedly hot item on their hands earlier this year: the limited edition Laser Loon Library Card, with a picture of Minnesotans’ favorite waterfowl with a bright red laser gusting out of its eyes. In Indiana, Allen County Public Library offered a limited run of three cards celebrating the county’s art scene with local artists. As part of its 150th anniversary, Chicago Public Library celebrated with a limited edition card commemorating that milestone in 2023. For its 100th, Cuyahoga County Library, OH, commissioned original works by three local artists and digitized the images for limited edition cards; the art is on permanent display at three different branches​.

Just launched in September, for Library Card Sign-up Month, are Sonoma County Library’s limited edition cards featuring the winner of a children’s art contest, along with cards honoring the library’s accessibility to all. And later this fall, former Bay Area librarian Mychal Threets will be featured on a limited Berkeley County Library card—an appropriate honor for the man with a library card tattoo.

These are only a few of the wide-ranging limited edition library card iterations popping up seemingly everywhere. Why are all these libraries putting time and resources into small-run cards?

ACKNOWLEDGING HISTORY AND COMMUNITY

In the case of the Oakland Public Library (OPL), CA, Community Relations Manager Tarshel Beards had an epiphany after learning about a 2023 exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library, NY, called The Book of HOV, an extensive collection of art and artifacts covering the career of legendary musician Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter launched for the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. The exhibit included no fewer than 13 related limited edition library cards, branded with Jay-Z’s album images and the library’s logo.

Beards immediately felt that the West Coast, specifically Oakland, should also honor that anniversary. She was not alone. “People were emailing me. The director was saying they wanted the same acknowledgment of the hip-hop anniversary,” she said. “Unlike with Jay-Z, we didn’t have the connection with some of the artists and exhibits. We had a whole different situation.”

An answer soon arrived through her work with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the organization that created Black History Month. In August 2023, Beards learned that the theme for 2024’s Black History Month would be African Americans and the arts. “I said, ‘Oh, OK, here’s an opportunity to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and Oakland’s contributions.’”

Besides wanting to celebrate Oakland’s role in hip-hop history, Beards admitted to an ulterior motive. “I’m from Brooklyn, and was super excited when the exhibit happened,” she said. “I went to see it during a trip home, and in my brainstorming, I said, ‘OK, we’re going to do one better.’ It became this contest to acknowledge the arts.” While hip-hop would be one focus, she decided to broaden the scope to match that of Black History Month and honor African American contributions to all areas of art. The library system offered a contest for children, teens, and adults, each age group eligible to win a spot on an OPL library card with their representation of Black contributions to art.

HONORING A DIFFERENT ANNIVERSARY

In Florida, Broward County Libraries Division Public Information Officer Stephen Grubb was, along with his colleagues, trying to find a good way to celebrate the library’s 50th anniversary. “We wanted to have something people would get excited about owning and hopefully keeping,” he said. “A library card was a natural choice. We knew we could do something exciting and different.”

That doesn’t mean it was easy, however. “That card went through a lot of iterations,” he said. “Sometimes projects just come together quickly, and sometimes you spend a lot of time. This was months and months of work. It looks so simple now, but it started with a disco ball.” The overall idea was about honoring the library’s roots in the 1970s, and the disco ball slowly evolved into a colorful, cheerful, ’70s-themed card reading “Peace Love Libraries.”

Those three words turned out to be pivotal in the design’s final arrangement. “It’s a subtle thing, that whole peace, love, and libraries,” Grubb said. “I think of the hippies when I was a kid, and the activists. In my opinion, there’s a kind of coming around to that frame of mind again in this day and age because of the book bannings and restrictions of freedoms that we’re seeing. In a way, it’s a subtle nod to ‘everything old is new again.’” In addition, the three words convey the positive feelings most people have about libraries and the important role libraries play in a free society.

POPULAR AND RESONATING

Both Beards and Grubb agree that the limited edition cards have been popular. Beards noted that the contest received nearly 200 entries. And as an unexpected side benefit, the cards seemed to encourage people to express their appreciation for libraries. “The love of libraries, love of Oakland came out,” she said. “People would want to tell me their story in an email with their submission. We got a lot of that. Even the submissions that weren’t really on theme were submissions that elevated and showed a love for the library as well as Oakland.”

While various forms of art were represented by the winners, Beards learned that some of the artists whose work was interpreted on the cards are still alive and well aware of the library’s contributions. “They’re excited to see their name on a library card,” she said. “They’re telling their families to go get a card, they’re getting a card and being reintroduced to Oakland Public Library.”

The value of Black History Month was brought home when one of the young artists created a card featuring Angela Davis. When Beards met the young woman, she asked her how she knew about Davis, because she seemed too young to know. “She said, ‘In school they told all about her and the Black Panthers.’ She was just so proud. She said she’s going to send the card to Angela Davis.”

Grubb’s team and its card was appreciated in the local community—where it too was popular and well-received—and they also won a a prize for it: The National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO) recognized them with a Best Campaign award and a best graphic design award for the card itself. Grubb noted that the award was not just for public libraries, but for all government institutions across the country. “It’s just the icing on the cake for us,” he said.