A Toronto library card will now give you free access to the city’s top attractions

A lone security guard patrols an empty and closed Aga Khan Museum in Toronto on Friday, April 24, 2020. Health officials and the government have asked that people stay inside to help curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

TORONTO -

A library card will grant families free admission to a list of Toronto museums and cultural attractions beginning on Saturday.

Toronto Public Library's Museum and Arts Pass (MAP) pivoted to a virtual experience during the pandemic but will resume in-person beginning on Nov. 20.

For Toronto Public Library cardholders, one pass is permitted per person every week. Each venue has its own restrictions on the number of people that can be admitted with one pass. Generally, each pass admits two adults and two children.

All Toronto Public Library branches are participating in the program, but passes for some venues are only available to specific branches. Currently, the expiry date for a pass is scheduled three months after checkout.

These venues offer passes at all library branches:

• Art Gallery of Ontario
• Textile Museum of Canada
• Toronto History Museums; including:
• Colborne Lodge in High Park
• Fort York National Historic Site
• Gibson House Museum
• Mackenzie House
• Market Gallery
• Montgomery's Inn
• Scarborough Historical Museum
• Spadina Museum
• Todmorden Mills Heritage Site

These museums offer passes at 50 branches:

• Aga Khan Museum
• Bata Shoe Museum
• Royal Ontario Museum

These venues offer passes at 32 branches:

• Black Creek Pioneer Village
• Gardiner Museum
• Ontario Science Centre
• Toronto Railway Museum
• Toronto Zoo

In 2007, the MAP program was created and offered to 24 branches of the Toronto Public Library’s 99 locations. The neighbourhoods chosen were ones the City identified as high priority with regard to their access to cultural resources.