LAKEPORT, Calif. – It’s just a little blue card with a barcode, unassuming, unpretentious, looking something like a credit card.

It has no monetary value but it has power. It’s a Lake County Library card and it provides all manner of free benefits. September is Library Card Sign-up Month, a chance to get acquainted with the Lake County Library and its services.

A Lake County Library card is easy to get and easy to use. To get a library card, provide identification and proof of your current mailing address at any of the four libraries in Lake County. Children under 18 years of age will need a parent’s identification to get a library card.

Once a person has a library card, that card provides access to several services, including free access for requesting and renewing materials in the online tri-county catalog that Lake County shares with the Sonoma and Mendocino County Libraries.

That catalog contains thousands of titles and hundreds of thousands of individual items. Lake County alone owns nearly 149,000 items.

The entire collection contains more than 6000 DVD titles, not to mention books, audio books, and music CDs. Patrons can search the catalog and request materials from anywhere in the system.

Library cards give free borrowing at all branches in the tri-county system. Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino Counties honor each other’s library cards, so patrons can check books out anywhere in the system and return them to any branch. Someone with a card issued in Lakeport, for instance, can check books out in any branch in Sonoma or Mendocino County and return them to Lakeport. Couriers transport books between the libraries four days a week.

Lake County cardholders can access the free Ebsco Auto Repair Database through the Lake County Library Web site. The database includes instructions, illustrations and wiring diagrams for repairing many car makes and models.

Lake County cards provide free Internet access on Lake County Library public computers. Each Lake County Library branch has free public Internet computers and free public wifi access.

The Lake County Library subscribes to the Overdrive downloadable library so patrons with Lake County cards can borrow both electronic books and audio books through the library’s Web site.

Interlibrary loan is a service that allows Lake County patrons to borrow materials from libraries outside of the tri-county system. Patrons can print out request forms from the interlibrary loan page of the library website or pick them up at any branch. The interlibrary loan staff will search for the books and place requests with libraries that own them.

The Lake County Library is on the internet at http://library.lakecountca.gov and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .

Lakeport Library, located at 1425 N. High Street, is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The phone number is 707-263-8817.

Redbud Library, 14785 Burns Valley Road, Clearlake, is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday, noon to 7 p.m. The phone number is 707-994-5115.

Middletown Library, 21256 Washington St., is open Tuesday to Friday, noon to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The phone number is 707-987-3674.

Upper Lake Library, 310 Second Street, is open Tuesday through Friday 12 noon to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The phone number is 707-275-2049.