Library Celebrates 99 Years With New Website, Cards And More

The new library cards await.

May 19, 2015 will mark the ninety-ninth anniversary of Lakewood Public Library. To celebrate, the Library will unveil a brand new website, redesigned library cards, sharp looking nametags for the employees, free stickers and more.  Stop by the Library and wish us a happy birthday. (No gifts please, just keep reading, watching and listening.) You can pick up one of the new library cards while you’re here and get a free sticker to show the world that you’re a proud patron of the Lakewood Public Library.

Those who wish to hold onto their old library cards for sentimental reasons may do so—the old cards will continue to work just the same for the foreseeable future—but everyone else is invited to exchange their old cards for the new design. It’s free and can be done quickly at any service desk. And for those of you who have lost your cards, but didn’t want to pay the $2.00 fee or clear your old fines, you also may do so for free. This celebratory exemption will last until the first batch of new cards runs out—most likely in early July.

The biggest changes will be to the Library’s website. Lakewood Public Library was one of the first libraries to establish an online presence way back in the early 90s. The original site won many awards and accolades for innovation and was used as a model for other pioneering libraries. But over time, the site swelled to over four thousand pages. Our ambition outstripped our resources. The identity fractured and reliability suffered.

The new website provides the Library with a fresh new start—not just for its crisp, clean look, but for the powerful tools it will provide to staff and patrons alike. The modern content management system will automate many time-consuming tasks and free the staff to spend more time serving the public. And we think that the public will appreciate the ability to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily—and discover the things they didn’t know that the Library could do for them.

What will Lakewood Public do for its one-hundredth anniversary to top this? Keep reading.