Become an Honored Donor at the BPLD!

The Buena Park Library has a new “Honored Donor” library card for individuals who make a donation of $100.00 or more within a calendar year.  Become an “Honored Donor” and present your “Honored Donor” library card in the Guild Bookstore to receive 20% off your purchase.

Congratulations to our first recipients of this new library card!

Christiane and Dennis Salts with Library Director Mary McCasland

Long-time donor Robert Williams

We appreciate your continued support of
the Buena Park Library’s programs and services!

September is Library Card Sign-up Month!

A Free Library Card is Your Ticket to Back-to-School Savings

This September, the Buena Park Library joins with the American Library Association and public libraries nationwide to make sure that our students have the most important school supply of all – a free library card.

Studies show that children who are read to in the home and who use the library perform better in school and are more likely to use the library as a source for lifelong learning.

Evolution of BPLDs Library Cards – Part 3 (Newbie Card Edition)

Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?  I’m proud to announce our (semi) new Adult and Children’s Library cards.  Designed by our employee, Tony, both of these beauties came out last fall.

• 2012 – Present

“Rays of sunshine card”

The adults get a new library card that really stands out with its contrasting colors of bright orange and shades of blue.  Our library name stands out in bold white which compliments our lovely logo design.  But it’s those darn catchy colors that always grabs my attention.  Where else can you find a library card where it looks like the sun’s rays are are peaking through a person improving their well-being by reading?  Here!  That’s where!  And because of that, I hope we keep this card for a long time.

• 2012 – Present

“The blue maze card”

I was going to call this the “blue card” but the new adult card actually replaced old blue, so bear with me in calling the new children’s card, “the blue maze card.”  Creative and catchy, huh?  Like with all libraries, it’s a matter of giving the community what they want and our library doesn’t stop at just library materials; we’ll go as far as library cards!  And if you remember our “purple card” that was under so much demand that we simply ran out, we decided to keep the identical design but switch the color to a more soothing, universal blue.  With a maze-like design that consists of cool shades of blue and white, our library’s name is cleverly placed under our logo design that just has kids begging to use their “blue maze card” to check out fantastic library materials.

Which one’s your favorite?

John Mayer, a Submarine, and Your Library Card

On John Mayer’s latest album Born and Raised, Mayer introduces listeners to Walt Grace, a man who buried himself in his basement to build a submarine.

And his wife told his kids he was crazy

And his friends said he’d fail if he tried

But Mr. Grace paid them no attention. He kept dreaming his dream and working hard to reach it. And, eventually, he succeeded in building his submarine. How?

… with the will to work hard and a library card 

He took a homemade, fan blade, one-man submarine ride

He used the resources available to him at his local library to gain the knowledge he needed to build his submarine.

That’s the power of your library card, folks! With it, you have free access to the world’s information. Your library card can help you, too, to reach your dreams.

On a related note, give Mayer’s latest album a listen! We have it available here at the library.

“The stylistic change-up and unburdening tone

make for some of the most convincing

music of Mayer’s career.” (Rolling Stone)

Evolution of BPLD’s Library Cards (Part 2)

Well, I promised you a part 2 and a part 2 you shall receive (unless you forgot about part 1, then in which case we’ll call this part 1..it’ll be our little secret).  Anyways, I showed you the evolution of our adult cards at the Buena Park Library District in part 1 so this will of course focus on our juvenile cards.

Let’s begin, shall we.

• 1982? – 2000

“The yellow card”

The year is 1982.  Ronald Reagan is president, the USSR is beginning to crumble, and kids get their own library card.

This striking yellow card makes perfect sense for children and teens alike as it sticks out, which is great for kids keeping track of their cards.  You’ll see below.

• School ID – Can’t find it!
• Bus Pass – Where is it?!
• Bright Yellow Library Card – Check! Wow that was easy to find!

See what I mean?

However, remember our little secret from part 1 about the purging of the flies?  Well, it didn’t stop at the adult cards.  The juvenile cards also got the dreaded plague.  Once again, I felt the need to reveal it to the world (or whoever is reading this blog) and I circled it in bright red at the bottom for you to see.

 

• 2000 – 2004

“The mouse card”

Times were changing.  Yellow was so last year and lavender-colored cards with a computer mouse and Microsoft Word Clip Art was so in.  The computer mouse represents our growing focus on providing computer access to our community in addition to books.  It was designed by our former employee, Sonia.

And look, there’s no purging of any flies on the back of this card as it’s been simplified similarly to the adult card.  Unfortunately, you hardly ever see any of these around as the children and teens who had these have grown up and gotten the adult cards.

• 2004 – present

 To make up for our lack of juvenile cards (I agree, 22 years and only 2 cards to choose from for our young demographic is by no means acceptable!) we gave them a plethora of cards to choose from.

• 2004 -Present?

“The purple card”

This card was the most popular among children and teens.  Its nice purple color is perfect for youngsters while its maze design is suitable for the more mature crowd.  It was designed by one of our former employees, Sonia or Vince (but Vince designing a purple colored card seems almost absurd so probably Sonia).  Unfortunately, due to the high demand, we have run out of stock on these cards but after numerous requests from kids of all ages, we are seriously considering bringing it back (perhaps yet another blog about a library card?).

• 2004 – Present

“The hand prints card”

This card is now the most popular since the purple card has been discontinued for the time being.  It is especially popular among younger children because it’s bright, colorful, and cheerful.  And there’s hand prints everywhere!  And who doesn’t like hand prints? For the record, I love ’em!

• 2007 – Present

“The gray card”

 This card came a few years later to help complement our other juvenile cards.

This card is…well, it’s sort of popular…among teenagers pushing 18.  This is the guy card.  The manly card.  The mature card.  The card kids or teens choose when they want to look tough or adult like.  It takes a while to notice but there’s a large computer mouse taking up about half of the card on the left which leads to…well, we all think it’s a CD, computer, and a book (perhaps to emphasize that we’re tech savvy, which we are! But I’m no mind-reader).  To really find out what it means, you would have to ask our former co-worker, Vince, who designed it (I really gotta stop giving him a hard time in these blogs but I’m not feeling like it today).

What’s your favorite?

 

 

Evolution of BPLD’s Library Cards (Part 1)

Since we switched to a Computerized Integrated Library System in 1982, our loyal patrons have been using library cards to check out books.  To complement our “Show us your Library Card” campaign that we’re promoting currently, I thought it would be fun to present to you the evolution of our library cards since that time.  No library cards were harmed during this presentation.

• Pre-1982? – 2000

“The original”

One of the great mysteries of the library, no one really knows when this card was first distributed but some of our senior librarians have claimed that this card was here before our Dynix ILS, which we switched to in 1987.  Our previous ILS was a system in collaboration with the Anaheim Public Library and this went as far back as 1982.  So pick a year, any year between 1982 and 1987 and we’ll call that the beginning.

This practical card has no nonsense about it: title at the top, our lovely library below, barcode, and our address.  Many patrons still carry this card today.  Though it isn’t laminated and therefore quite thin (and some patrons end up carrying just a stub of it, hey, I would too, it’s a classic!), they still work.  However, there is one flaw.

Share Your Photos with the Library

Vacation, all I ever wanted …

Vacation, had to get away …

                         “Vacation” by The Go-Go’s

Do you know that you can apply for a passport at the Buena Park Library?  If you need information about the application process, see our webpage for more information.  Have you applied for a passport at the Buena Park Library?  Then let us know where in the world your passport has taken you … share your travel photo with us!  Send your “family friendly” picture to the Library at:  library@buenapark.lib.ca.us

Let us know where you have been (and if we can tag you).  We will post your picture to our Facebook page.

And even if you don’t travel to a distant and exotic location … your library card can take you there through the books, DVDs, compacts discs, and audiobooks that you can check out. So take a picture of yourself and your library card and send it to us!  We know where your Library card can take you … but we would love to know where you have taken your card!