The library card is free for all Montreal residents-we ‘re starting this way because not only did we not know it, we’re biting our fingers off. We signed up right away.
And on top of the free library card, you can use it to borrow more than just books in any of Montreal’s 46 libraries…
First of all, but you may already have known this, you can borrow CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays. Personally, we’re saving it for our next party, possibly on the theme of David Lynch shorts, or a backyard party with a dramatic screening of Step Up (and Step Up 2), and if there’s a bad breakup, a marathon of all the Destination Ultime...
1. museum passport
You can also borrow a free passport to seven of the city’s museums, including the McCord Stewart Museum, the Musée d’art contemporain (MAC), the MEM – Centre des mémoires montréalaises, the Musée des Métiers d’Art du Québec (MUMAQ), the Musée des Hospitalières, the Écomusée, and the Musée Émile Berliner.
2. telescope
Montreal’s Marie-Uguay and Saint-Henri libraries encourage enthusiasts to touch the stars – literally.
In a break with traditional library offerings, these establishments lend out six Orion’s StarBlast 4.5 telescopes – and you can borrow a star map, too.
3 Video games
Montreal’s largest library, the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ), is renowned not only for its collection of books and documentation, but also for its collection of over 1,000 video games. Pacman, anyone?
4. board games
In a strategy that defies board game bars, BAnQ offers an impressive collection of over 200 board games.
The Grande Bibliothèque now allows library cardholders to borrow up to three board games at a time, free of charge.
5.33 rpm records
The BAnQ has an entire pavilion dedicated to music lovers.
On the library’s top floor, music lovers can find an impressive collection of over 10,000 vinyl records.
6 Musical instruments
Nineteen of the city’s libraries offer musical instruments that you can borrow like a book.
These range from classic instruments like violins, guitars and keyboards to more niche instruments like ukuleles, mandolins and a variety of percussion instruments.
7 The National Parks Passport
BAnQ and the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq) have teamed up to enable library members to “rent” nature itself.
Fifty daily access passes to eleven Sépaq national parks are available to library cardholders.
8. online library
With the card, you also have access to a wealth of online resources, including digital and audio books, online and digitized newspapers, and online language, computer and music courses.
9.leisure activities
You can also book gyms and playgrounds with this platform, for your next tennis match…
No more excuses for not keeping up with the latest literary releases (even if we sometimes feel like rereading Salinger’s Nine Stories for the 15th time this year), and we said that in 2025 we’d finally learn Mandarin…
Happy reading!