Hennepin County Library has a new Prince-themed card 4 U

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called the library.

Hennepin County Library has released a new card, timed to the opening of the Prince musical “Purple Rain,” that can be picked up at all libraries in the system (there are 41 of them, but three locations are temporarily closed). A total of 25,000 of the cards have been printed and, when those are gone, that will be it.

“Our goal isn’t to have a memento. It’s more that people would get the library card and use it,” said Scott Duimstra, director of Hennepin County Library and, as “a child of the ‘80s,” a longtime Prince fan. “For us, the goal was to recognize him and his connection to our community and how much he meant, and to point it back to the libraries.”

That’s why, for instance, librarians have had to say “no” to Prince lovers from elsewhere who’ve called about getting cards as souvenirs. Fans who don’t live and pay taxes in Hennepin County, though, can get the cards by stopping at an HCL branch and paying a $60 nonresident fee (the Prince card was inspired, in part, by the success of the laser loon card released last year by St. Paul Public Library).

For everyone else, it’s as simple as going to one of the 38 open libraries and requesting the card. An initial shipment of 15,000 cards went out to libraries last Friday at noon and although exact numbers are not yet available on how many patrons snapped them up in the first few days, Duimstra said one location already placed an order for additional cards Monday morning.

“We’re bringing in patrons who have never been to our libraries before,” Duimstra said, adding that, in addition to new customers, anyone can replace their current card with the purple one.