September marks the return of some of everyone’s favorite things: pumpkin spice lattes, football season, and of course, Library Card Sign-Up Month. Your library card opens a world of reading, lifelong learning, entertainment, and connection for the low cost of absolutely free. This September, when you sign up for your first library card with the Anderson County Library System, you’ll be entered into a drawing for one of three $50 Visa gift cards, plus other fun prizes.
Library cards are free to everyone who lives, works, owns property, or goes to school in Anderson County. To apply, bring a picture ID to any of Anderson County’s nine library locations or any bookmobile stop. If your ID does not have your current address on it, please plan to bring proof of address, like mail or a utility statement.
With an Anderson County Library card, you can save money when you borrow instead of buy. Books, audiobooks, movies, magazines, and music are all available both at the library and digitallywith the Libby and Hoopla Digital. You can also learn something new 24/7, with access at home or on the go with online classes, investment research tools, genealogy resources, and business development databases. Finally, entertain your kids – or yourself – with weekly storytimes, afterschool programs, monthly crafting classes, and author and special events. You can even check out passes to SC State Parks and the Children’s Museum of the Upstate, as well as fishing equipment, wi-fi hotspots, and seeds from the Seed Library.
Find unique collections and opportunities only at the Anderson Main Library. Browse the Local Author Collection for new and classic books from authors in Anderson and the surrounding area. Go back in time and explore historical newspapers, land deeds, records and more dating back as early as the 1790s with the Local History and Genealogy Collection. Teens can explore a space just for them: the Gambrell Teen Room. The newest addition is the Electric City Creative, a makerspace for creators, makers, and craft enthusiasts. Create projects using a suite of Cricut tools, sewing machines, looms, the Adobe Creative Cloud, and much more.
There’s always something new to explore and read when you get your free Anderson County Library card. Visit the Anderson County Library online at www.AndersonLibrary.org, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagramfor questions or more information.
Learning a new language just got easier. The Anderson County Library System now offers Mango Languages, an award-winning language education resource, to all library users.
Mango Languages offers over 70 languages and more than 20 English courses for speakers of other languages. Mango is the only adaptive language-learning system powered by proven methodologies, designed to naturally establish retention and rapidly build conversation skills. It is accessible on desktop and on mobile devices with an Apple and Android app. Users can create accounts to keep up with progress, set up a family account, and for offline learning.
Mango Languages is the latest addition to the digital resources available with a library card. From researching products and investmentsto studying for the SAT, GED, and other technical exams, library users have access to a wide range of online learning and research tools available anywhere, any time with a library card.
The Anderson County Library System serves residents of all ages in Anderson County across nine library locations, a bookmobile, and the digital library. Get Library events, books, and news straight to your inbox by signing up for newsletters.
September is Library Card Sign-Up Month, and this year’s theme from the American Library Association is “Libraries Empower.” To celebrate how libraries can empower individuals, the Anderson County Library System is giving away two $100 Visa gift cards. To enter, pick up a “Libraries Empower” bookmark from your local library, write how libraries have empowered you or your family, fill out the rest of the bookmark, and return to your library by Thursday, September 30.
Go digital with your library card. Read eBooks and digital magazines, listen to digital audiobooks, or stream movies, concerts, and lectures with Libby, Hoopla, and Flipster Magazines.
You have questions; the Library has answers! From Shakespeare to stock investments, you can find reliable research information online and in the catalog with your library card.
However, if you’re not sure where to get started, or need a little extra one-on-one help, the Library now offers a Book-A-Librarian service. Simply fill out this online form to select which topic you would like assistance with and which appointment time you would like. Then, meet one-on-one with library staff in person at the Anderson Main Library, via Zoom, or on the phone.
Topics include assistance with genealogy and local history research, how to check out and read eBooks with the Libby app, or help with Microsoft Office programs. If you don’t see a topic that fits your question, you’ll have to option to fill out what research or learning topic you need assistance with, and library staff will do their best to help. You can also see all upcoming computer classes, workshops, and programs the library offers on the events calendar.
April is Financial Literacy Month, and whether you’re looking to brush up on accounting skills, plan your personal finances, or explore investments, the Anderson County Library has the resources to help – all available free with your library card.
Universal Class provides online, self-paced classes on hundreds of topics, including:
Accounting and Bookkeeping 101
Debt Reduction
Estate Planning
Goal Setting 101
Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
Habits of Millionaires
Investing 101 & 201
Microsoft Access 2019
Microsoft Excel 2019
Personal Finance 101
QuickBooks 101
Retirement Planning
The Great Courses has hundreds of popular courses on a wide range of subjects taught by the world’s greatest professors. Using the Libby app, check out a week pass for unlimited views. When the week is up, you can always check it out again. Lectures relating to financial literacy include:
Economics of Uncertainty
Money Management Skills
The Art of Investing
Understanding Investments
For those looking for the latest data, sophisticated tools, and reliable, unbiased information, Value Line is the investment research tool to use. Value Line provides how-to guides, education tools, and market research for beginner and veteran investors.
For help with these or any library resources, contact the Adult Services department by calling (864) 260-4500 ext. 126 or emailing reference@andersonlibrary.org.
Looking to start 2021 right? See if the Anderson County Library System can help!
Read More
With eBooks and digital audiobooks from the Library, reading is easier than ever. Download the Libby app and check out up to 8 eBooks or audiobooks at a time. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Request an item by emailing overdrive@andersonlibrary.org. Find more eBooks as well as music and TV on Hoopla Digital and browse the latest issues of popular magazines on Flipster. Bonus: Join the Facebook group Upstate Readsto share what you’re reading and get recommendations and challenges from our librarians!
Spend Time with Family
With storytime, early literacy skills, take-home activities, and trivia, the Library has great free events to help your family spend quality time together. Bonus: Research your family’s history with AncestryLibraryand the Library’s genealogy resources. At-home access to AncestryLibrary has been extended through March 31!
Learn and Improve Skills
Take online classes on hundreds of subjects at your own pace with Universal Class, or get practice tests for high school, college, and careers with LearningExpress Library. Need some extra help? Access Tutor.com with your library card for one-on-one assistance. Bonus: Watch award-winning on-demand courses and lectures with The Great Courses!
Be Creative
Sew, knit, bake, paint, and decorate with hundreds of classes and projects from Creativebug, ranging from beginner to advanced. Bonus: Look for monthly Take ‘n Make craft kits and Creative Crafters videos from the Library!
