Remote Resources for Families and Youth: How to Borrow Items
Online Resources
BPL’s website, www.bpl.org, is your doorway to all we offer. You can also explore what we have to offer you remotely, by going directly to our Online Resources page.
From here you will see a handful of our online resources broken out by various subjects or by audience. To see a complete listing of our online resources, click the A-Z Resources button.
Highlighted Resources
Language Learning Resources: The provided resources, including Britannica Spanish Reference Center, Little Pim, and Mango Languages, support language learning from ages 3 to adulthood.
Online Courses: Lynda.com provides video courses in business, software, technology, and creative skills, taught by recognized industry experts.
Test Prep: The Learning Express Library contains test preparation materials and practice exams for K-12 subjects, high school equivalency, college and graduate admissions, military, U.S. citizenship, and professional licensing, and certification exams. Massachusetts Driver’s License Practice Tests are also provided.
Digital Resources
Digital Commonwealth: Digitized photos, manuscripts, books, and other materials of local and historical interest from the Boston Public Library and other libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies in Massachusetts.
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center: More than 10,000 digitized maps from a collection that is global in scope, dating from the 15th century to the present, with a particular strength in maps and atlases from the New England region, American Revolutionary War period, nautical charts, and world urban centers.
How Do I Sign-Up for a Library eCard?
The Boston Public Library (BPL), in addition to serving the residents of Boston, also serves all residents of Massachusetts in our role as the Library for the Commonwealth. Anyone who lives or works in Massachusetts can come into a BPL location to register for a Borrower’s Card OR register online for an eCard that gives instant, remote access to nearly all of our Online Resources. All items on this LibGuide can be accessed with a BPL card or eCard.
eBooks & eAudiobooks
| Hoopla: Movies, TV shows, music, eBooks, and comics for online streaming or download to mobile devices, with no waiting lists. Borrow up to 10 items per calendar month. (While the library is closed due to the COVID-19 emergency this limit has been raised to 12 items.) |  |
| Overdrive & Libby by Overdrive: Browse the collection of over 100,000 eBooks and eAudiobooks and borrow up to 10 items at a time. To read on your tablet or smartphone, download the Libby app. Most but not all eBooks are also compatible with Kindle eReaders. All BPL cardholders also have borrowing privileges in Overdrive from library systems throughout Massachusetts, including CLAMS, CW MARS, Merrimack Valley, Minuteman, NOBLE, Old Colony, and SAILS. |  |
Newspapers & Magazines
| Boston Globe: Text-only articles (not page reproductions). Does not contain all content found in the published version of the Globe, such as advertisements, charts, classified ads, graphs, most images, and non-staff written items. Updated daily by 8 a.m. |  |
| New York Times (current edition): Up-to-the-moment access to nytimes.com with no limit on the number of articles viewed. Read today's news stories as they happen. 72-hour passes are available daily for home or remote use. This resource requires you to create a free individual account. You may use your existing nytimes.com account, if you have one. |  |
| PressReader: Full-color reproductions of thousands of U.S. and international newspapers and magazines. Coverage usually includes the past three months. |  |
Movies, TV, & Music
| Boston Public Library Vinyl LP Collection: The Boston Public Library (BPL) sound collection includes hundreds of thousands of audio recordings in a variety of genres and historical formats, including wax cylinders, 78 rpms, and LPs. By collaborating with the Internet Archive, BPL's audio collection can be heard by new audiences worldwide. |  |
| Hoopla: Movies, TV shows, music, eBooks, and comics for online streaming or download to mobile devices, with no waiting lists. Borrow up to 10 items per calendar month. (While the library is closed due to the COVID-19 emergency this limit has been raised to 12 items.) | |
| Kanopy: Kanopy includes acclaimed movies and documentaries on-demand from award-winning filmmakers. Browse the collection of over 30,000 films. Borrow up to 4 items per calendar month. (While the library is closed due to the COVID-19 emergency this limit has been raised to 8 items.) |  |
| Music & Performing Arts: This database offers streaming audio and video that spans all time periods, hundreds of thousands of seminal artists, composers, choreographers, and ensembles. Highlights include the Popular Music, Jazz, World Music, and Classical Music collections. |  |
| Royal Shakespeare Company Collection: These high-definition, surround-sound recordings of William Shakespeare's plays featuring the world's best Shakespearean actors bring performances filmed at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Stratford-upon-Avon theater to your computer screen. | |