It’s back-to-school time and you may be wondering which kind of card you need to access all of the resources that your children will need for school. Here’s a brief primer on the difference between a regular library card and an eCard. 

First, what’s required to get an eCard? An eCard only requires a valid email address. It is free if you live, work, go to school or own property in New York State, while it is $50 if you are out of state. What are the benefits of an eCard? With eCards, you can access all of our digital materials, including

• music
• TV series
• Great Courses learning opportunities
• databases
• helpful resources for homework help like Brainfuse

You can check out eBooks, too!

What’s required to get a regular card? For a regular card, you need a valid street address – and proof of the address, as well as a picture ID. Like the eCard, you need to live, work, go to school or own property in New York State to get this card for free; if you are out of state, you can still get one, but it will cost $50. You’ll have to come in person to one of our To-Go locations to obtain a regular card, while you can get an eCard completely online and no identification is required. The benefits of a regular card are all those of an eCard, plus the ability to check out all of our materials such as regular books. 

We recommend that if you plan to get a regular card, you first sign up for an eCard so your information will be in our system. This will make getting the regular card at a branch faster and easier.

For more information or to obtain an eCard, visit here.

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