Free Library Cards for Hamilton County Public Schools

Thousands of kids in public schools were left having to pay this fee for the priceless resources public libraries offer…so the city of Chattanooga and the library stepped in.

"This is our second year of providing free library cards to all children K through 12 who are enrolled in Hamilton County public schools," said Corinne Hill who is the executive director of the Chattanooga Public Library.

Mayor Andy Berke popped into Harrison Elementary Tuesday morning with a fresh stack of those cards for the kindergarten class.

"The kids are very excited about this and they absolutely loved getting to meet the mayor this morning," said kindergarten teacher Krisanna Adams.

Public school funding has led headlines this year and some teachers are less than happy with school library conditions.

"We have a lot of great resources in our library here at our school but unfortunately we don’t have the funding to provide everything," said Adams. "There’s a lot more available resources at the public library so it’s a great opportunity for us to be able to go with this free library card and check out all the online resources as well as the books."

"Kids should not be caught up in all of the stuff that grown ups are involved in with city, county, they just shouldn’t have to pay for a card," said Hill.

And one kindergartener name Malleri can’t wait to visit the library in the big city.

"I’d like to see the big library because there’s so much books that I can choose from that I don’t even know which one to pick because they’re all going to be, I think, amazing."

Library officials said over 24 thousand cards were handed out last year with 35 percent of them being used regularly.