“When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.” - Author Rita Mae Brown

Saturday, September 2, we’re all stopping by the library en route to our 2.30 pm EDT gathering for Rare Book Cafe. It’s the 30th National Library Card Signup Month, we’re doing our bit to encourage everyone to get one!

Though the month celebrates the start of school as a good time for young readers to get a card, it’s a good time for everyone. Libraries help build super-powers at all ages.

You can even figure out- here- the value of all the things your library does for you without extracting cash at the door.

The American Library Association reminds us,

Libraries play an important role in the education and development of children. Studies show that children who are read to in the home and who use the library perform better in school and are more likely to continue to use the library as a source of lifetime learning.

Librarians are literacy experts. Libraries offer a variety of programs to stimulate an interest in reading and learning. Preschool story hours expose young children to the joy of reading, while homework centers provide computers and assistance to older children after school. Summer reading clubs keep children reading during school vacation and have been shown to be the most important factor in avoiding the decrease in reading skills that educators refer to as "summer learning loss."

Society is changing in the way it consumes information. Libraries are evolving with these changes to serve the public and to continue to fulfill their role in leveling the playing field for all who seek information and access to technologies.

Today’s public libraries are thriving technology hubs that millions rely on as their first or only choice for Internet access and digital content. In addition to books, magazines, DVDs, computers, games, software and other multimedia materials, libraries provide access to ebooks and e-book readers. Ninety percent of libraries offer access to e-books, an increase of 14 percent from 2012. Mobile devices, including e-book readers, which are available at 39 percent of libraries.

Often the library is the first point of contact in helping community members. From providing assistance to small business owners to assisting with access to e-government resources, libraries are changing lives through education.

Libraries are America’s great information equalizers – the only place people of all ages and backgrounds can find and freely use such a diversity of resources, along with the expert guidance of librarians.

The team’s talking libraries Saturday: things we do in them, things we’re learning we can do that’re new as libraries morph to meet new needs in new times. We’ll remember the astonishing generosity of the industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who wrote over three thousand American towns and cities to say, “I’m giving you a library.”

We’ll be looking at how libraries make first editions more collectible- and, at the same time, less. At the role of great research libraries. And, yes, even stories of when we got shushed!

Rare Book Cafe is streamed by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair every Saturday from 2.30 to 3.30 pm EDT. We feature interviews, panel discussion and stuff you can learn about book collecting whether you are a regular at Sotheby’s or just someone who likes books.

The program airs live on Rare Book Cafe’s Facebook page, and remain there after the show.

Hosted by Miami book dealer, appraiser and WDBFRadio.com’s Bucks on the Bookshelf radio show creator Steven Eisenstein, the program features a revolving set of cohosts and regular guests including Thorne Donnelley of Liberty Book Store in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; Lindsay Thompson of Charlotte’s Henry Bemis Books; miniature books expert Edie Eisenstein; ephemera expert Kara Accettola; and program creator/producer T. Allan Smith.

We enjoy the support and encouragement of these booksellers: Little Sages Books in Hollywood, Florida; Liberty Books in Palm Beach Gardens; As Time Goes By, in Marion, Alabama; Quill & Brush in Dickerson, Maryland; Lighthouse Books in St. Petersburg; The Ridge Books in Calhoun, Georgia; and Henry Bemis Books in Charlotte.

Rare Book Cafe program encourages viewer participation via its interactive features and video: if you've got an interesting book, join the panel and show it to us! If you’d like to ask the team a question or join us in the virtually live studio audience for the program, write us at rarebookcafe@gmail.com.