The Honors College Assembly is partnering with the Tuscaloosa Public library for an event to help put library cards in the hands of Tuscaloosa County children. On Tuesday, volunteers from the Honors College will be helping with crafts, story times and other activities to get kids excited about reading. The library will also help parents register their kids for library cards.

Ally Mitchell, a sophomore majoring in communicative disorders and psychology, is the director of service for the Honors College Assembly.

“Our theme for September was education. Because it’s the start of school, it kind of fit,” Mitchell said.

The service sector plans mostly one-time events throughout the year. Every month has a theme they plan their events around. Separate from Mitchell’s service group, the Honors College has a program called READ Alabama, where Honors College students travel to Tuscaloosa elementary schools to read to young students.

“One thing that programs like READ Alabama try to emphasize is literacy, and we thought what better way to encourage literacy than to give kids ownership of it,” Mitchell said. “We’re just trying to further foster that idea that reading is something that can be fun and something we want them to be excited about.”

Vince Bellofatto, the director of public relations and communications for the Tuscaloosa Public Library, said while children who are learning to read and developing their skills are the primary beneficiaries, the library is fighting illiteracy in all age groups.

“I think the functioning illiteracy rate in Tuscaloosa is about 25 percent,” he said. “There are people that can go to work and function, but they don’t know how to read. That’s the number that everybody is trying to chip away at.”

Events like the one planned by HCA help put library cards in kids’ hands while also bringing in parents who may struggle with reading to their children or reading in general. The crafts and story times are designed by the Honors College to make the library a fun place, rather than a chore or something to fear.

“Kids are participating in these programs, they’re having fun, and don’t tell them, but they’re actually learning,” Bellofatto said.

September is Library Card Sign-up Month and the event falls in the middle of the library’s Fresh Start program. The program allows patrons to bring in supply donations for Tuscaloosa’s One Place or the Humane Society of West Alabama in exchange for the forgiveness of any fines, late fees or damages to the library.

“We’ve done fine amnesty programs a few times a year over the last couple years, but this is the first time we’ve done a blanket clean card, clean your slate kind of event,” Bellofatto said.

The library will issue replacement cards at no charge as a part of the program. Pamela Williamson, the assistant director of public services for the Tuscaloosa Public Library, said the library is seeking to have guests make return visits, especially those who have had fines for extended periods of time.

“We’re just trying to make sure that the kids have what they need regardless of whether or not a parent has checked something back in or not,” she said. 

The library is changing the way it interacts with the community by adding digital content and numerous children and teens’ programs, with topics ranging from science to creative writing. Mary Elizabeth Harper, the director of the Tuscaloosa Public Library, said the programs are an integral part of the library’s efforts to serve the community.

“If nobody’s reading the books we have on our shelves, there’s a mismatch between the community’s need and the library’s perception of that,” she said.

Above all, Harper said the library is focused on getting books in patrons’ hands. Programs like this try to help the library work towards the goal they share with the Honors College, she said.

“You can go anywhere in a book, but you have to be able to read,” she said. “That’s the key that unlocks that particular door.”