Neighborly Advice: A Guide to Talking to Your Neighbors About the Library

You have your library card. Of course, you do! In fact, everyone in your household has their own library card. But why stop there?

What about the households next to yours?

Make it a beautiful day in your neighborhood by inviting your neighbors to share in your joy of library card ownership. Bond over library events. Maybe even start a neighborhood book club. But first, you’ll need to talk to them.

Try these simple conversation starters:

If your neighbor just moved in:

• “Hey there, I live next door. Could you use some help unboxing your books? You know who else has lots of books? The library. Do you have your card yet?”
• “Welcome to the neighborhood! You’ll like it here. The people are nice enough, but the local library is amazing.”

If it’s embarrassing that you don’t know your neighbor because you’ve lived next to each other for forever:

• “Hi. I feel bad that we haven’t talked much before now, but I’d feel worse if I thought you weren’t aware of how great our local library is. I was about to head over there. Would you like to join me?”
• “I know we wave to each other all the time, but I thought I’d finally ask you your name. Also, and more importantly, I wanted to ask if you had your library card.”

If your neighbor has a cute puppy:

• “Who’s a good puppy? Who’s a good little puppy? It’s you! You’re a good little puppy.” *

*It’s okay if you forget to talk about the library in the presence of a cute puppy. We understand.

If your neighbor is that person who always plays their music too loud:

• “GREAT TUNES! DID YOU KNOW THAT WITH A LIBRARY CARD, YOU CAN STREAM AND DOWNLOAD MUSIC FOR FREE THOUGH KDL VIBES AND FREEGAL?”

It’s that simple!

Once you mention the library, you’ll have plenty to talk about. Be sure to point out KDL’s free printing (50 pages per week), reservable meeting rooms, online resources (Kanopy, Libby, Hoopla, LinkedIn Learning and Rosetta Stone are but a few), amazing events, helpful librarians and rewarding reading challenges.

Soon you won’t just be neighbors. You’ll be friends.