Nathaniel de Boer has had his membership card for the St. Albert Public Library for most of his life but he’s never used it. In fact, he has never put it in his wallet and has yet to sign his name to it.
It doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering he is only a month old and was added to library’s extensive membership list less than a week after he was born.
Kathleen Troppmann, the library’s customer services manager, said that it’s pretty unusual to have such a young member but there is a lot of things that little Nathaniel can access with his new card.
“We are used to seeing lots of babies in the library for our baby programs, but this is the first time we have actually handed out a card so early in someone’s life. We would love to see more parents register their babies, but six days will be hard to beat.”
Nathaniel was born on Sept. 17 and was a member six days later. Mom Janis explained she has made the library culture a bit of a family tradition. She has been taking Nathaniel’s three-year-old brother, Alexander, to the library once every month or so to “switch out the book stash.”
“When the Healthy Beginnings nurse was here, she gave us a package,” she began. “You get a little ‘Welcome to the library’ bundle. One of the things in it was a little slip from the library saying ‘Come in and register your child for their first library card.’
“I thought, ‘Why not?’ Alexander loves books. Let’s get him a library card, too.”
Janis admitted that she hasn’t gone to any of the library’s numerous children’s programs with Alexander but things might be changing now.
“Now that I’m on maternity leave I’ll hopefully have the opportunity to get him in more during the day and check those out,” she said, adding that little Nathaniel hasn’t borrowed any books yet. “Give him time. I’m hoping he’ll be as big a reader as his brother!”
Library memberships are free for people under 18 years of age. They can sign up by visiting the front desk with their parent or guardian and with valid identification and proof of address.
