Confessions of a Library Card Holder

Posted October 22, 2021 by Abbey Metzler

            Reader, I have a confession. I, a Simmons Library and Information Science master’s student, have lived in Boston for over half a year now without getting my Boston Public Library card. The shock! The horror. I can hear the admonishments now. But maybe you, like me, moved to a new city during this time of great lockdown and weren’t sure how libraries were available to us with their front doors firmly closed and sanitized. That is why I write to tell you of my own journey for the little plastic card and the membership it represents. I decided to remedy my lapse in patronship during one of my library science classes. No, I won’t tell which one. It’s my first semester here and I want to make a good, attentive first impression on Simmons’ venerable professors. In said unnamed class, I pulled up the BPL website and found the page for their eCard registration. The eCard is available for anyone who lives or works in Massachusetts, even if you are only here part of the year for school. In no time flat, I was in the system. With my newly minted membership, and a speedily downloaded Overdrive app, I was listening to a borrowed audiobook on my train ride home later that day. The buzz of library potential — Should I listen to this audiobook at work and this one on the T? When can I get to one of the BPL branch locations to upgrade to a physical library card? — has me proselytizing the benefits of getting a card to anyone who will listen.