To celebrate National Library Card Signup Month, businesses in downtown Bangor are asking the public to show their library cards. In return, the participating business will give a gift or discount.

This started when I had my car serviced several years ago. Looking at the keys on the counter I saw that everyone had a library card attached to the key chain. I tried to come up with some kind of campaign to celebrate, but I got too busy.

Later, while reading some library periodicals, I found that the public library in Naperville, Ill., had come up with a Show Us Your Library Card campaign. With Naperville Public Library’s permission and the good will of our downtown business neighbors, the Bangor Public Library is celebrating those who have Bangor Public Library cards.

Elizabeth McKee Coffey, of the library board of directors, took the lead for Show Us Your Library Card, Bangor. Graphics were done by Media Works Enterprise.

Getting a library card in September is not a new phenomenon. Many students find their way to a library as part of the going back to school ritual.

Those who didn’t find the pleasure of reading during the summer find that going to the library has several benefits for students of all ages. It’s a good place to go to find not just a needed book for an assignment, but someone who can recommend a good title for that assignment.

It’s also a place to go to get those five sources “not from the Internet” needed to complete a paper – and a librarian who can help locate those sources as well as the legitimate online sources needed so one doesn’t have to go through 10,000 pages of Google hits.

Of course, the other reason I hear to go to the library is that you never know who you will find when you get there.

The number of people who tell me “I met my spouse at the library” stories is almost beyond number.

If you don’t have a library card, check out the library’s Web site at www.bpl.lib.me.us to see how you may get one and while there, see which downtown businesses are participating in Show Us Your Library Card, Bangor.

Get your library card now. It’s free. Then come to the library. You never know what you might find.

September events at the Bangor Public Library are:

. Meet the Author, Allen Sockabasin, “An Upriver Passamaquoddy,” 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6.

. Meet the Author, Rosalie Johnson, “Defying the Darkness,” 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15.

. Teen Drama Group, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18.

. Children’s Department fall programs, beginning Monday, Sept. 17.

. Faith of Our Neighbors, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18.

. Meet the Author, Mimi Killinger, “The Good Life of Helen Nearing,” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.

. Meet the Author, Don Colson, “Quiet Courage: Stories of the Unselfish Dedication of Maine Veterans,” 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22.

Barbara McDade is director of the Bangor Public Library.