Free Library touts new virtual library card

Got an e-card and an e-book in your "electronic wallet"?

The Free Library of Philadelphia is hosting a sign-up event - a promotional show-and-tell at the Municipal Services Building with library president and director Siobhan A. Reardon - on Wednesday for its newly launched virtual library card.

But the irony here - and the message that library staffers will spread - is that you no longer need to go anywhere, not even to a library branch, to claim a digital library card. The whole process can be accomplished in as little as 90 seconds just by taking your Internet-accessing self (and device) to freelibrary.org/anywhere.

That little bit of effort then reaps all sorts of rich rewards. No newcomer to digital licensing and electronic distribution of content, the Free Library of Philadelphia has amassed a catalog of nearly 120,000 streaming or downloadable e-books (including many best-sellers and niche/genre titles) and 19,000 streaming or downloadable audio books. All can be yours for free, virtual borrowing, usually in one- to three-week spans (your choice), for enjoyment on a dedicated e-book (Kindle, Nook), computer tablet, laptop or desktop computer, or smartphone.

Lighter digital content also is available through online checkouts, including more than 19,000 videos ("from Ken Burns documentaries to Muppet movies and features like Silver Linings Playbook") plus a variety of digital magazines, "from US Weekly to the Economist," said Alix Gerz, Free Library assistant vice president of external affairs.

In July, the library circulated digital materials 101,763 times, versus 466,312 hard-copy items (books, discs, and tapes.) "But if you think of it in terms of a 'branch,' the virtual library is by far our most active," Gerz said.

The virtual library also stockpiles 1,000 audio podcasts from the Free Library's Author Events Series, so listeners can connect later with the celebrity authors/newsmakers from those sold-out, high-priced soirees.

Even the library's in-house staff of educational helping hands is available through the virtual card to offer live, one-on-one tutoring, career guidance resources, and more.

The free virtual library card is available to anyone who lives, works, pays taxes or goes to school in the city of Philadelphia, as well as anyone who lives in the state of Pennsylvania.

In addition, the same card number also unlocks computers and free WiFi at all neighborhood libraries.

Learn more and sign up by visiting with library staffers Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Municipal Services Building's Concourse Level (Arch Street Entrance), 1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd., or by tapping in at freelibrary.org.

And you can help spread the word by tagging photos on social media at #FreeLibraryAnywhere to answer the question "Where will your card take you?"

215-854-5960@JTakiff