Written by Christina Cooper

Storrs Library gives you access to bunches, boatloads, buckets, and bushels of beguiling books and materials. We can even help you get access to the Boston Public Library (BPL) system. Wait!  Drop those car keys and take off those boots.  No need to drive across any slushy streets to get to Boston. The BPL is as close as your nearest computer.

Boston makes available its public library resources to anyone who lives or works in the Commonwealth as part of its status as the Library of the Commonwealth, a state-funded program. Residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are entitled to register for a free BPL eCard, which enables browsing  newspapers, magazines, journals, research databases, language learning, test prep materials, and a variety of other electronic resources. 

Signing up for a card took me all of a minute, and before I knew it, I’d started listening to a 1960 jazz recording, read a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal, and tracked down driver’s license practice tests for my teens. Who knows what you'll discover?

To register for a BPL eCard, applicants must meet any one of the following criteria: reside permanently in Massachusetts, live in-state for most of the year to attend school, commute to an MA employer for one’s primary workplace, or own real estate property in MA.

The only thing for which you can’t use a BPL ecard is to check out physical books. However, that would involve driving to Boston, and I hope you listened to me when I told you to take off your boots.

To find out more, visit longmeadowlibrary.org/eResources.