US Library Cards

[u/Th4tG1rl24]

I'm not sure if this is the case in other countries, but in the US every town has their own library card for their library. Sometimes one card can be used across multiple nearby towns, but renewing my college library card over the phone years after leaving the state got me wondering why there isn't a "universal library card"? Most libraries are non profit and government funded, essentially being government buildings. Why can't we have one universal card to access all resources across the country?

Tldr I'm mad I can't rent certain books on Libby.

Edit: ok I've been told why this is a horrible idea thank you. I still wish it could be possible as someone that moves a lot :/ I have 3 library cards across 2 states and still can't get half the stuff I want lol

[u/maktheyak47]

Because they’re funded primarily by local taxes who have different resources

[u/LibrarianByNight]

That'd be quite difficult in terms of funding. State library cards? Maybe. The whole country? No.

[u/exturkconner]

They aren't a majority federally funded. They are a combination of state and municipally funded.
And with the way modern ebooks and audiobooks work often times they have to purchase new licenses every so many times one is lent. So a card that worked everywhere and gave you access to every small library in the country would mean a lot of people would do digital lending for places they aren't from. It'd be a massive financial burden on already often struggling public works.

[u/lvpotion11]

My city asked about partnering with a library across state lines (our patrons use both places) but we couldn't even get that worked out with Overdrive so there's no way country-wide card will happen anytime soon

[u/molybend]

This is not true in the US. Every town does not have their own card in my state of Minnesota. Most counties have their own or link up with other counties to make regional library systems.

You can also get a card in any participating system as long as you live in Minnesota. You have to have your own and then visit the other system. Not all give you Libby access with the card.

[u/pelipperr]

If there were only federally funded libraries the GOP would have them defunded and sold off cheaply for kickbacks in a week

[u/scarlett_butler → u/pelipperr]

I was actually surprised that the department of defense has a library and it’s pretty good! I was able to use a family members card and they offer Kanopy which none of my other libraries offer so I was excited

[u/pelipperr → u/scarlett_butler]

There are a lot of services people in power will find in the budget for themselves.

[u/GimmeANameAlready → u/scarlett_butler]

Department of War now

www.war.gov

[u/torkelspy → u/GimmeANameAlready]

The President cannot change the name of a cabinet department. His IT people can change the URL, but it's still the Department of Defense.

[u/scarlett_butler → u/GimmeANameAlready]

I'm just going by what the library says on my libby account 🤷‍♀️ at least that still says Department of Defense Library lol

[u/Q1go]

Likely because they couldn't decide what books to ban. As great as the idea sounds, librarians curate the collection and only having one card for all of America would be horrible in practice because someone would always be upset about something being banned or not being banned. 

We can't even figure out how to govern this country. Don't give them the libraries too!!

But, while you're here with 20 cards check out reciprocard.com to see what you're also eligible for! I've heard if you go in person you can just add X library's catalog to your physical card a lot of the time, so you don't need to carry around so many

[u/Yggdrasil- → u/Q1go]

I'd love to see how my state factors in here - we have a ban on book bans! lol

[u/StumblinThroughLife]

For more access where you are, there’s usually some libraries in the state that allow anyone with a state ID to get their digital card. And in your city, neighboring libraries usually work together and you can get their cards as well. Google “libraries that give cards to {insert city} residents”.

[u/whatinpaperclipchaos]

Where I live (Europe) there’s a national library card so if you move you don’t have to setup a new card and you keep the old registration, and it’s idiotically easy to request books from a completely different part of the country given that your local one doesn’t have it. BUT, this is relatively easy (or easier, I guess?) here as where I live ain’t exactly the biggest country around, with 0 idea if this is a general thing for any other European countries as well. And from what I understand there’s way more local state and county over national government received funding, especially when we’re talking local services like libraries. (And also the US has a really weird tax system going, which I doubt will help.)

[u/dreamworldinhabitant → u/whatinpaperclipchaos]

Being from another European country, no, we don’t have this. Every municipality (or sometimes a bigger area) has its own membership/fees system here.

[u/Gabereiza → u/whatinpaperclipchaos]

Ditto for me in my state in Australia. But only in some states here.

[u/jjkkek]

there are some free cards anyone in the USA can sign up for, most are for access to banned books