If you’re a New Yorker and don’t have New York City Library card, now is the time to get one. Besides having a access to unlimited books, cardholders can use the Culture Pass, which gives free admission to museums, public gardens and more.
Your New York City Library card offers endless adventures around the city at no cost. The Guggenheim, the Whitney and The Metropolitan Museum of Art are just some of the amazing institutions that have teamed with NYC libraries to create a program that gives more access to the city’s cultural sites.
Here’s how it works.
Log on to the Culture Pass website and sign up your library card number and pin to make reservations. It’s that easy. And some of the participating places even allow cardholders to bring guests!
But make sure to read the fine print. There are restrictions. According to the Culture Pass FAQs, you can only reserve one pass per cultural institution per year and you can only have two active reservations per library card. However, there’s so many places to explore in the city, so it’s not likely you’ll run out of fun free things to do.
Current institutions you gain free entry with your New York City Library are:
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Brooklyn Children’s Museum Brooklyn Historical Society Brooklyn Museum Children’s Museum of Manhattan Children’s Museum of the Arts Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum The Drawing Center The Frick Collection Historic Richmond Town International Center of Photography Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art The Jewish Museum Louis Armstrong House The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Morgan Library & Museum Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1 Museum of Chinese in America Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust Museum of the City of New York New York Transit Museum Noguchi Museum Queens Historical Society Queens Museum Rubin Museum of Art SculptureCenter Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Society of Illustrators Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Sugar Hill Children’s Museum Wave Hill Whitney Museum of American Art
Keep in mind that passes for a given date may sell out, reservations can be made up to two months in advance and upon arrival, guests will have to show a printout or mobile version of their pass.
If you’d like to apply for a New York City Library card, you can do so here.