BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM
Getting a library card should be easy. For many children, it isn’t. The process can require documentation that not every family has: a fixed address, proof of residency, or a guardian’s signature. For students who are unhoused, in foster care, or undocumented, those requirements can make the library effectively inaccessible.
Chicago just decided to take the question off the table.
The 81 Club expands
The Chicago Public Library and Chicago Public Schools expanded The 81 Club earlier this month, a program that turns every student’s school ID into a library card. No application, no paperwork, no additional steps.
Any CPS student can now walk into one of the city’s 81 library branches, show their school ID or provide their ID number, and check out books or tap into a collection of more than 6 million items, along with digital databases and academic tools.
What the pilot showed
The program is not entirely new. A 2022 pilot in four Chicago neighborhoods, Englewood, West Englewood, Rogers Park, and New City, gave researchers a look at what happens when you remove friction from library access.
Among economically disadvantaged students, library use climbed 63 percent. Among English language learners, it rose 81 percent.
Those are not marginal gains. They suggest that the previous process was not simply inconvenient for some students. It was a wall.
In the pilot areas, The 81 Club members now outnumber traditional library cardholders among the highest-need students. The citywide expansion takes that result to every CPS school.
More than books
The program reaches beyond physical library access. CPS teachers gain access to Sora, a digital platform with millions of eBooks, audiobooks, and classroom materials, along with research databases and instructional tools. Students can access the same digital resources through their ID.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said the goal was to ensure every student, “no matter their ZIP code, school enrollment or their age, will have access to library cards and programs and resources that make their lives more enriched.”
Kenya Merritt, acting commissioner of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, grew up in the Austin neighborhood and recalled visiting the local library as a child. “This partnership is what it looks like in action when young people have access, not just to books, but to stories, art and creative expression,” she said. “It opens doors for them. It helps them to imagine what’s possible for themselves.”
The 81 Club will also release limited-edition cards featuring student-made artwork. It is a small touch, but it tells you something about how the program sees itself: not as a workaround, but as a proper welcome. The pilot data bears that out. When the door is genuinely open, students walk through it.
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