LAKEPORT, Calif. – In honor of the upcoming centennial celebration for Upper Lake’s Harriet Lee Hammond Library, the Lake County Library has begun issuing commemorative library cards this month.

The new cards feature a painting of the Hammond Library by Upper Lake artist J. P. Sarlande.

The new cards will be available from all branches of the Lake County Library while supplies last.

To get a library card in Lake County bring your identification and proof of current mailing address to any branch. Children under 18 will need a parent’s identification.

September is Library Card Sign-up Month which coincides well with the October celebration for Upper Lake’s historic library.

The library centennial will take place on Oct. 16 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the library, located at 310 Second St.

The celebration will include entertainment, refreshments and a lot of fun and surprises.

The Upper Lake Women’s Protective Club started Upper Lake’s first library in borrowed space in J.N. League’s general store in 1914, but the club members always hoped for a permanent library building.

With a donation of land from Lottie Mendenhall and Amy Murdock and $6,000 from Harriet Lee Hammond, Upper Lake’s new library building took shape over the summer of 1916 and opened that October.

Although the building might appear to have started out as a house, it has always been a library. Its 100-year history as a library makes it one of Upper Lake’s oldest businesses.

For more information about the centennial contact the library at 707-275-2049 or the main library in Lakeport at 707-263-8817.

The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .

Jan Cook works for the Lake County Library.