Hey Chicago!
When was the last time you checked out a public library? If you haven’t been by in a while, you might not know that a Chicago Public Library (CPL) card gets you a lot more than books.Â
Museum admission, streaming movies and music, business research databases, a makerspace with 3D printers and laser cutters, tutoring, and a portable WiFi hotspot are all things a CPL card can unlock, and best of all, it’s all free. In this week’s article, we’re covering everything that comes with the card.
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With that out of the way, let’s get into the Chicago Public Library system!
The System
The CPL currently runs 81 locations: the Harold Washington Library Center downtown, three regional libraries, and branches spread across the city’s 77 community areas. As of 2026, the system employs 799 full-time and 287 part-time staff, and logs millions of computer sessions and WiFi connections a year across all locations. It’s a big operation!
Every branch has computers, WiFi, printers, scanners, and copiers. Many also have meeting rooms and study rooms you can reserve ahead of time. Everything described below is available system-wide with a card, not just at Harold Washington, unless we note otherwise.
Getting A Card
Getting a library card is free, and you can get it at any CPL location. Just remember to bring current, valid photo ID with your name and Chicago address. If your ID doesn’t show your current address, you can bring a piece of mail addressed to you at that address along with the ID.
If you’re still gathering documentation, CPL does offer a Temporary Access Library Card, which gives you access to select resources while you have 90 days to upgrade to a Full Access card.Â
Kids under 14 get a juvenile card with a parent or guardian’s signature and one piece of ID showing the home address. Teens 14 to 17 get the same privileges as adult cardholders, with one exception: they can’t check out Digital Museum Passes.
Every Chicago Public Schools student from kindergarten through 12th grade, at any school in the city regardless of enrollment, automatically has an 81 Club account tied to their student ID, no application or parent signature required.Â
It’s more limited than a standard card, and it’s capped at five physical items checked out at once. CPS teachers get their own version, an eTeach card, for pulling digital resources into classroom lessons.
If you live in an Illinois community with a reciprocal library, you can also get a CPL card. Reciprocal cardholders can check out physical books, DVDs, and other materials and use CPL’s online research databases, but they can’t check out Digital Museum Passes or Internet to Go WiFi hotspots, or use OverDrive/Libby or hoopla.
No More Late Fines
Since October 1, 2019, CPL has not charged overdue fines on its own materials, and any existing fines on cardholder accounts were wiped clean at the same time.Â
Fun fact: Chicago was the largest city in the country to eliminate library late fees.Â
The exceptions: Kids Museum Passports and interlibrary loan items still carry fines if returned late, and those two categories can’t be renewed.
Museum Access
CPL runs two separate museum programs.
The Kids Museum Passport, run in partnership with Museums in the Park, lets an adult Chicago resident check out a physical passport covering up to two adults and at least one child under 18 for free admission to 15 of the city’s cultural institutions. Passports are available at every CPL location.
Then there is the CPL’s Digital Museum Passes program, expanded in 2026 through a partnership with the Reaching Across Illinois Library System. This program lets adult Chicago residents reserve passes online for a wide range of museums, historical societies, and zoos across Illinois, with no branch visit required.Â
You log in with your card number and PIN, pick a date, and you’ll get an email confirmation. Most offers don’t require a child in your group. Passes can only be reserved by adults – cardholders under 18 aren’t eligible for either program.
CPL also partners with Ravinia Festival on Words and Music, offering free lawn passes to select Ravinia concerts each summer, available at CPL locations.
Streaming, Books, & Media
Through Libby (OverDrive), you can check out ebooks and audiobooks for free (the same titles you’d otherwise buy).Â
Hoopla adds movies, TV, comics, and music with no subscription fee, subject to a monthly checkout limit.Â
And for magazines, you can use Flipster, with titles across news, food, and lifestyle categories and no due dates to worry about.
All of this is available through your library card.
Newspapers, Research Databases, & Language Learning
Wait, there’s more! With your library card, you get full online access to major newspapers, including unlimited digital access to the New York Times (news, games, cooking, Wirecutter, and The Athletic all included) and the Chicago Sun-Times, through CPL’s login portal.Â
For local history, the Chicago Tribune Historical Archive covers the paper’s full text, including classified and display ads, from 1849 to 1997, and the Chicago Defender Historical Archive covers the city’s historic Black press.
Beyond newspapers, you get access to Morningstar for investment research, GreenFILE and other EBSCO databases, and Mango Languages for self-paced language courses, all usable from home once you’re logged in with your card.
And for deeper local research, Harold Washington’s Special Collections and Preservation Division holds rare Chicago-focused materials, and Woodson Regional Library on the South Side houses the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, the largest African American history and literature collection in the Midwest.
Free Computers, WiFi, & Printing
What if you’re physically at the library?
Every location has public computers available from opening until 10 minutes before closing, with up to two sessions a day (one hour each, or 15 minutes on express machines). No card is required, and anyone can request a daily guest pass. All locations offer free WiFi on the CPLWIFI network, with no login needed beyond accepting the terms of use.
Printing costs $0.15 per single-sided page and $0.25 per double-sided page, cash only, with the first $1.50 of printing free every day (color printing isn’t available). You can also send documents to any branch remotely for pickup at a print kiosk.Â
Most branches also have scanners, and scanning itself is free: you can save a document to a USB drive, email it to yourself, upload it to Google Drive, or download it to your phone via a QR code.
CPL computers run Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher), Adobe Reader, and a full set of free creative software: Inkscape and Krita for 2D design, Blender and Sculptris for 3D modeling and animation, GIMP and Paint.net for photo editing, and OpenShot and LMMS for audio and video editing. There’s also Notepad++ for anyone working on code. Flash drives can be used on the standard one-hour computers, though not on the 15-minute express machines.
Every CPL location has two ADA-accessible computer workstations, one for adults and one for children, with 24-inch monitors, oversize keyboards, trackball mice, and wheelchair-accessible tables.Â
Harold Washington’s Assistive Resources and Talking Book Center, on the 5th floor, provides additional technology for guests who are blind, have low vision, or have physical disabilities that make a standard mouse difficult to use. In addition, both Harold Washington and Woodson Regional have videophones with video relay service for deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons.
Here’s something you might not have known.Â
For households without home internet, CPL’s Internet to Go program lends portable WiFi hotspots that run on T-Mobile’s network, so they work at home, on the bus, or in a park. Any CPL cardholder who is a Chicago resident 14 or older can check one out for three weeks, renewable up to 15 times.Â
Hotspots are only available at 18 specific branches, including Austin, Brighton Park, Chinatown, Douglass, Sherman Park, West Pullman, and Woodson Regional, and must be returned to the branch where they were checked out. Don’t lose it, because the cost to replace one is going to run you $100.
If you need help using any of this, CyberNavigator tutors are available for free 1:1 sessions at specific branches citywide, covering everything from basic computer skills to filling out online forms.
The Maker Lab
Harold Washington’s 3rd floor Maker Lab was Chicago’s first free, publicly accessible makerspace when it opened in July 2013 as a six-month experiment. It became wildly popular and stayed open permanently, and in 2013 it won the Social Innovator Award from the Chicago Innovation Awards.
The equipment includes:
- Bambu P1S 3D printers
- Full Spectrum laser cutters with a 20-by-12-inch bed
- Cricut Maker electronic cutters
- Button maker
- Brother sewing and knitting machines
- Inkscape and GIMP design software
Workshops are free and open to ages 14 and up (kids 10 to 13 can attend with a supervising adult), and open shop hours require no registration or class.
YOUmedia For Teens
YOUmedia is CPL’s teen media and STEM space, based at Harold Washington and a number of neighborhood branches. It combines books, laptops, gaming, and creative tools like 3D printers in a mentor-staffed, drop-in environment.
Homework Help And Tutoring
CPL offers free tutoring through Brainfuse HelpNow, available 24/7 in English and Spanish, covering writing, math, science, social studies, and ESL, from early elementary through college prep level, plus ACT and SAT practice tests and a writing lab. You log in with your card from any device.
The Teacher in the Library program places certified teachers in branches (and online) to help kids with homework and study skills, funded by the Chicago Public Library Foundation. It runs through the school year until Memorial Day, with breaks when Chicago Public Schools is out of session.
Small Business And Career Resources
What if you need access to business resources? At Harold Washington’s business area, librarians can help you learn the system’s business resources. Online, cardholders can access the Business Plans Handbook, a collection of hundreds of real business plans used as models, ReferenceUSA/Data Axle for competitor and demographic research, and ABI/INFORM for full-text articles from thousands of business publications, including Crain’s Chicago Business, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal.
Brainfuse’s Adult Learning Center also offers resume feedback from a writing coach within 24 hours, and Chicago DigitalLearn has free short video courses for building basic computer skills.
Citizenship And Immigrant Resources
CPL has a citizenship resources page with study materials for the U.S. citizenship exam, accessible through Brainfuse’s Adult Learning Center. The library also partners with CitizenshipWorks and Illinois Legal Aid Online to help immigrants understand naturalization eligibility and find vetted nonprofits for legal help, and every branch can connect residents to English-language learning resources.
Meeting Rooms And Community Programs
Many branches have reservable meeting rooms and quiet study rooms, usable for anything from tutoring to remote work to condo association meetings, at no cost.
CPL also runs several citywide programs through the Chicago Public Library Foundation: One Book, One Chicago, which has organized a yearlong community reading theme.
If you need a title CPL doesn’t own, the interlibrary loan system lets you request it from another library and have it sent to your branch for pickup, all through the same card.
Final Thoughts
We think having a library card in Chicago is one of the best hacks for having access to a ton of valuable resources for free. The crazy part is, most Chicago residents don’t know how powerful this card is.
A CPL card replaces or reduces what a lot of households already pay for separately: museum visits, streaming, tutoring, business research tools, and internet access. None of it requires anything more than a Chicago address and a piece of ID.
You can find more information on everything that the CPL card has to offer here.
In the meantime, if you’re researching neighborhoods and want to know what’s nearby, including your local library branch, reach out and we’ll walk through it with you!Â
Until next week, make sure to pick up a good book and keep learning!
