Did you know that September is National Library Card Sign Up Month? The month was chosen because it lines up with the start of the school year – libraries are a huge resource for students, so it’s the perfect time to make sure kids and their parents have cards and know about everything available to them through their local library system.
Here in Fresno, our libraries have been doing something especially fun for the occasion. They took a local urban legend – the Fresno Nightcrawler – and turned it into a limited-edition library card, just in time for spooky season. If you’re unfamiliar with the Nightcrawler: it’s a creature caught on security footage years ago that looked basically like a pair of white pants with no torso or head, walking around in the dark. Somehow that footage has traveled the world (no joke – I bought a Nightcrawler pin at a gift shop in Denver a couple years ago, and the cashier told me how much they loved the Nightcrawler and asked if I knew the story, before I’d even mentioned I was from Fresno). Build-A-Bear even came out with a limited-edition plush Nightcrawler recently, and it sold out within 24 hours – tens of thousands of plushies of this silly creature sold in a single day!
I think it’s incredibly fun that we can now get a Fresno Nightcrawler library card – though if you want one, you’ll need to act fast. They’re while-supplies-last, and a lot of branches are already out. As of today (September 23rd, while I’m writing this), I was able to get mine at the Fig Garden Branch on Bullard and Marks in northwest Fresno. And yes – even if you already have a library card, you can swap it for the Nightcrawler version just by showing your ID.
If you don’t have a library card yet, this is a great time to get one. Our local libraries track how many people sign up during this month, and the more people who do, the more support and funding our libraries get – which means more resources for all of us. And if you think those resources are just books… respectfully, you need to go to the library more often.
Not only can you check out up to 25 books at a time, for up to three weeks, you can also check out movies and video games for a week at a time, grab free seeds from the seed catalogue to plant a seasonal garden (the seed bank is at the Woodward Park library), and take free classes – yoga, beading, computer skills, crochet, and more. There’s story hour for the little ones, Read with a Dog, and the Reptile Ron show. You can learn chess from an actual chess master, join a guided meditation session, or try folk dancing and even tai chi.
Using your library card number, you can also borrow free audiobooks and e-books through the Libby app without ever leaving home. Want to read magazines or news articles you’d normally have to pay for? The library offers free 3- and 7-day passes for hundreds of periodicals.
Curious what else is going on? You can browse the full class and event schedule here, check out the online resources (Libby and beyond) here, and find hours and locations for every branch here.
So – go grab your card (Nightcrawler edition or otherwise) before the month ends and see what you’ve been missing. Maybe I’ll even see you at a knitting class – my best friend learned how last year and is dying for me to catch up so we can enjoy a new hobby together. See you at the library, friends!
- Get Your (Nightcrawler) Library Card: It’s National Library Card Sign Up Month - September 24, 2026
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