Long live the laser-eyed loon — on a new St. Paul library card

The laser-eyed loon didn’t make it onto the new state flag, but the beloved bird has made it onto a new limited-edition St. Paul Public Library card.

Cards featuring Minnesota’s state bird with a laser beam shooting from its eye will soon be available at all branches for St. Paul residents who don’t already have a library card. But don’t sleep on it.

“Once they are gone at a library location, they are gone for good,” the library’s website said.

The cards are free and come with a coupon for 15% off loon-themed merchandise sold at the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library shop.

Existing cardholders can swap out current cards for one of the new cards, which come with a new account number. Also available is a sticker featuring the exclusive design to cover a current card, which allows cardholders to keep their account number and borrowing history.

Next to the North Star, loons — some with lasers shooting out of their eyes — were among the most popular designs submitted by the public to be included on the new state flag. But the images failed to make the final cut, although a loon is featured on the new state seal.

Library officials created the new cards, they said, because they “couldn’t let the imaginative state flag submissions get lost in the stacks.”