Library Card Sign-Up Month Highlights Countywide Offerings

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

For Anderson County, a library card may be the closest thing the public has to a universal access pass.

It opens books, including the physical kind that retain the faint smell of paper, glue and other people’s attention. It also provides access to e-books, audiobooks, movies, television shows, music, digital magazines, online classes, genealogy databases, test-preparation tools, state-park and museum passes, fishing equipment, gardening seeds, children’s learning tablets, creative technology and nearly 2,000 programs each year.

A cardholder can borrow a novel, trace a family tree, stream a film, prepare for the GED, SAT or Praxis, learn crochet, print a vinyl decal, check out a fishing pole or attend a lecture. During Hurricane Helene, the library also became a place to find air conditioning, electricity, internet access and help completing federal disaster-assistance paperwork.

For a card that costs nothing, it is an unusually useful and powerful object.

September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month, and the Anderson County Library System is encouraging residents who do not yet have a card to claim one. Cards are free to people who live, work, own property or attend school in Anderson County. Signing up requires a photo ID and proof of a current address.

“It is so important because we are really focused,” said Jenn McGlon, the library system’s head of marketing and communications. “I mean, we’re always focused on getting people to sign up for their library card, but this is a systemwide effort to reach out to as many people as we possibly can to spread the word about getting a library card so that they can utilize all the services that we offer with a library card.”

Cards remain valid for two years. Renewal requires current identification or a piece of mail showing the cardholder’s address. The library system is also working toward online sign up.

“We are actually working on that,” McGlon said. “We’re in the sort of negotiating stages, so hopefully that will be rolling out pretty soon.”

The Anderson County Library System has nine branches: Anderson, Belton, Honea Path, Iva, Pendleton, Piedmont, Powdersville, Westside Community Center and Williamston. Together, they provide books, computers, meeting rooms, research tools, creative equipment and a quiet public place where people can remain without being expected to spend money.

“We’ve got all kinds of nontraditional items,” McGlon said. “So, things like metal detectors and park passes and things that you can take out into the world.”

In 2025, the system recorded more than 375,000 visits and nearly 999,000 checkouts. About 84,000 people — roughly 40% of Anderson County’s population — held library cards.

Physical books led checkouts, followed by digital materials. The library’s LEAP collection also remained popular, with patrons borrowing passes to Greenville’s Children’s Museum and Roper Mountain Science Center, South Carolina State Park admissions, fishing poles and seeds supplied through a partnership with Anderson County Soil and Water Conservation.

Those services saved patrons more than $7 million in 2025, essentially matching the library system’s budget. The figure reflects not only what the library owns, but what residents do not have to buy.

The newest branch, in Iva, has drawn crowds larger than expected and become a busy setting for events and community programs. A materials vending machine at the Food Lion on Highway 24, about 15 miles from the nearest branch, has also proved useful, particularly its weekly-serviced book drop.

After the main Anderson branch, Pendleton and Powdersville are the busiest locations in the system. Smaller branches, including Belton, continue to serve more people than their size might suggest.

The system’s new bookmobile, which replaced a 2004 Bluebird bus, brings materials and services to children, adults and seniors in underserved areas where a 15- or 20-minute drive to a branch can be difficult.

The Electric City Makerspace offers another version of library access. Cardholders can use equipment for custom T-shirts, vinyl decals and sewing projects, avoiding the cost of buying specialized machines for one project or a small-business idea. The space also provides notary services and supports workshops, creative projects and hands-on learning.

Programming reaches children, tweens, teens and adults, including the yearlong Chapter Chasers reading challenge. The library’s work is especially important during the summer, when reading programs can help prevent learning loss while school is out. The system is also exploring after-hours Family Fridays and making accessibility improvements intended to welcome more residents into its branches.

In a 2025 community survey, patrons gave the library system a 4.7-out-of-5 rating. The response reflects the familiar services — books, story times, study spaces and computer access — as well as the system’s growing role in daily county life.

For National Library Card Sign-Up Month, the library is repeating a popular contest from last year. Each time a visitor comes to a branch in September, they may complete a slip explaining why they love the library. Two winners will receive Amazon Fire HD tablets.

The system’s card drive continues through the end of the month, with staff visiting workplaces and schools to reach residents who qualify for a card but have not yet signed up.

“We’re going to workplaces in Anderson County,” McGlon said. “We’re going to schools to reach out to people, to get them to sign up, and we’ve had a huge turnout again this year.”

Her goal for new cardholders is uncomplicated.

“As many as possible,” she said.

Library Director Annie Sutton has made the broader challenge more personal: if 95 percent of Anderson County’s population signs up for library cards, she has promised to publicly shave her head as part of the celebration.

It is a dramatic promise for an institution generally associated with quiet, but the challenge fits the stakes. A library card is more than a transaction, it is a claim on a shared system of knowledge, public space, tools, technology and opportunity.

For the reader seeking a paperback novel, it is useful. For the family seeking a free museum visit, the student preparing for an exam, the gardener looking for seeds, the older adult researching a grandparent, the child in need of a story time, the small-business owner testing a makerspace machine or the person sitting in a storm-darkened house with a dead phone battery, it can be useful in a more consequential way.

More information on library cards, branches and programs is available at the Anderson County Library System website.