12 Ways Your Lake Forest Library Card Can Save You Thousands of Dollars

1. Museum and Park Discounts

Chicago Botanic Garden's Japanese Garden

The library is a part of the Museum Adventure Pass program which offers discounts to suburban Chicago museums and parks. Some of the passes include 2 free passes to the Brookfield Zoo, half off parking at the Chicago Botanic Garden, and BOGO tickets to Legoland. Just come to the library with your Lake Forest library card and we can print you off the discount pass. For a list of museums and their deals check out the Museum Adventure Pass website.

2. Free Zinio eMagazines

Through the Library's subscription to Zinio, you can access all kinds of popular magazines for free by downloading the magazines to your phone or tablet. Subscriptions include The Atlantic, ARTNews GQ, Chicago, Dwell, The Economist, Rolling Stone and many more. Just go here and create an account. Then download the app to your device and start downloading magazines.

3. 3M and Overdrive eBooks and eAudiobooks

Using both Overdrive and 3M, Lake Forest patrons can check out eBooks on their devices for free! Overdrive has a wide variety of materials from kids books to romance novels, to nonfiction business books. 3M Cloud Library has a lot of new titles exclusively for Lake Forest patrons. Unfortunately, 3M does not have eAudiobooks yet, but eAudio is available through Overdrive. For more information on how to use these services, head here.

4. Hoopla 

Through the Library's subscription to Hoopla, Lake Forest patrons can download movies, TV shows, Audiobooks, Music Albums, Graphic Novels, and eBooks. All for FREE! This great new service is easy to use and has a great variety of materials for download, especially when it comes to music. Patrons are currently limited to 10 downloads per month. Get started here.

5. Rosetta Stone 

Level One of Rosetta Stone courses are available through the Library. These courses usually cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Create your account then download the app to your device to get started.

6. Digital Newspapers

Not only does the library have print subscriptions to these and many more newspapers, but cardholders also have access to both historical database access to the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. We also offer access to online databases of current editions of the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal articles. Check them out here.

7. Tutor.com

Connects K-12, college, and adult learners with online tutors for live, one-to-one help in math, science, English, social studies, and writing. Adults can also receive one-to-one career help, citizenship test prep, and GED prep. Tutors are available from 2:00 to 11:00 p.m., seven days a week.

8. Morningstar and ValueLine

Morningstar is a useful investment analysis tool including screeners that use your criteria to create shortlists of stocks funds, and ETF's. It also offers reports and returns and courses on 150 investment topics. ValueLine provides accurate and insightful investment research on companies, industries, markets and economies. These two services are great tools for investors of all types. Check them out, as well as Standard & Poors, Consumers Checkbook, Consumer Reports and more here.

9. Freegal 

Discover and download MP3 music tracks from Sony Music Entertainment’s catalog. Each Lake Forest Library cardholder can download 3 tracks per week beginning each Monday. The best part is that the music you download, you get to keep!

10. The Great Courses

Lake Forest Library has over 140 Great Courses lectures. These very popular and expensive courses range in topics from Masters of Photography to an Entrepreneur's Tool Kit to the Great Minds of the Medieval World. The Great Courses are uniquely crafted for lifelong learners like you, with engaging, immersive learning experiences you can’t get in a lecture hall. These DVDs are located in the lower level of the library.


11. The Media Lab

Our new space offers patrons a place to edit graphics, videos, and music using entry and professional level software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Garage Band, Logic Pro, iMovie, Final Cut Pro and more. Make an appointment here!

12. Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com provides Lake Forest cardholders with access to genealogy sources primarily for the U.S. and the U.K. including the U.S. Federal Census from 1790 to 1930; the Social Security Death Index; marriage, birth, court, and military records; and historical maps and photographs. Ancestry.com can only be used at the library.