It sure has taken its sweet time to get here, but spring has finally arrived in Milwaukee and summer is right around the corner. Milwaukee’s warm weather months are a prime time to do some reading at the beach, in a park, while lounging in the backyard or on your porch, and during downtime on a road trip or a full-on vacation.
Moreover, the city has an impressive 14 Milwaukee Public Library branches, with literally millions of books and other pieces of media to enjoy at no cost. There’s just one small-yet-crucial catch: you need a library card to access any of it. Oh, and you’ll need to renew that library card every two years. Fortunately, if you’re a Milwaukee Country resident, you can get a free library card and/or renew you card with ease.
My library card was expired. In fact, it had been expired for an embarrassing length of time. Like, years. I had been meaning to get a new card and update my information in the library’s system for a while, but you know how life gets sometimes. We get busy, more pressing matters come up, and we put things off until later. Eventually, later becomes years of inaction until you finally buckle down and say “today is the day I renew my library card.” For me, Monday was that day.
Shortly after the Bay View branch—the closest Milwaukee Public Library to me—opened for the day, I made my way inside to finally replace that long-expired card I had lost many years earlier. I was immediately greeted by an employee seated behind the desk, whom I approached to inquire about the renewal process. Thankfully, I read the Milwaukee Public Library card guidelines before my visit, so I able to produce the two forms of personal identification, including a piece of official mail with my most current address on it since that address differs from the one on my license.
From there, I got to decide if I just wanted a card like the one you see at the top of this post or if I also wanted a small key chain-sized card (which I declined). I picked/confirmed a new four-digit pin and had my picture taken for the library’s records. I was given my card and asked to sign the back with a permanent marker. And that was it. From the moment I walked through the library doors until the instant I got my new card was a span of less than four minutes. UNDER FOUR MINUTES! If you’re unable or unwilling to handle this task in person, you can also renew online.
Card in hand, I was able to browse the branch’s massive selection of books, periodicals, CDs, DVDs, audio books, eBooks, and more. I’m also able to request and reserve items from other branches, stream and download more than 8 million songs, and watch thousands of feature films and documentaries. Here at a time when books are being banned and public services like libraries are under a growing threat, I’m proud to once again be a Milwaukee Public Library cardholder and I plan to put my new card to use many time in the next two years. And after two years are up, I won’t put off renewing it again.
GETTING A NEW LIBRARY CARD: QUICK, EASY, AND ESSENTIAL.
