The Museum Pass Program

Burlington County Library
Location: 5 Pioneer Boulevard, Westampton, NJ 08060 

Website: http://www.bcls.lib.nj.us/

Bathrooms: Yes

Parking: Yes 

Eating: Bookseller's Cafe with tables

Program Cost: FREE with Library Card

Around the area: Burlington County Library Amphitheater 

UPDATED 6/14/2015
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Summer is back! Time to take advantage of   your local library's Museum Pass program which will give library card holders admission to area museums for FREE!

This past winter break my family and I had the chance to try out this program at our county library and we. are. hooked!! We received a museum pass to the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill. This pass allowed FREE admission for up to six people over 4 DAYS!! This particular pass also allowed a 15% discount at their Discovermore Toy Store.  Admission to the museum is $10.95 for adults and children over 12 months. For a family of six to visit the museum for one day, it would cost $65.70. For that family to visit the same museum over a span of 4 days, it would cost $262.80!! What a great savings!

 

I had been calling the library every morning and an hour prior to closing  for three days, so when the library finally said the pass was available you should have heard the loud cheers coming from my mouth the kids' mouths! I swear I heard the ringing of bells and a choir of angels singing "Hallelujah!" The Discovery Museum pass is quite popular and hard to come by so we felt quite fortunate to be able to use it to its fullest over our break from school. Our next big break is in April (and of course the summer) and you can bet that I will be checking out the other museum passes available from our library:

Updated list of the museum passes available with your Burlington County Library Card. Check the library website for the branches that carry the passes:  (6/14/2015)

• Garden State Discovery Museum 
• Brandywine River Museum 
• National Liberty Museum,  
• Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
• Morris Arboretum  Click here for a Review!
• Grounds for Sculpture 
• Battleship NJ 
• Roebling Museum   
• Academy of Natural Sciences 
• PA Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 
• Air Victory Museum
• Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge 
•  Alice Paul Institute at Paulsdale 
• NEW! Paws Farm Nature Center 
• NEW! Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center 

Passes for Museums in New York City:

• Museum of Modern Art 
• Guggenheim Museum 
• NEW!! Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum

 So how do you get your hands on the passes? Here are all the details and tips for the Burlington County Library System. 

1. You must be a card holder of the Burlington County Library System and be in good standing. So pay your overdue fees!
2. Passes are picked up and returned at the library in which you borrowed them. It must be handed to a staff member directly and not put into the book drop.
3. You can call the library to see if they have the passes available and reserve it for up to ONE hour.
4. You can check out a pass for each museum only ONCE in 6 months. For example, I checked out  the Discovery Museum pass in December. I will not be able to check out that pass again until June. In the meantime I can check out any of the other remaining museums.
5. You can check out the pass for 4 days. (Tip: Check the museums for their special events and try to check out the pass for that event)
6. They will charge you $5 if you are late returning the pass or damage and/or lose the case. If you lose the pass you pay for the cost of pass (essentially they are memberships and they are costly, so don't lose the pass!!). 

Here are other area libraries with similar programs. Click on the links for more information.  

• Mercer County Library
• Princeton Library
• Philadelphia Free Library
• Wilmington Public Library and North Wilmington Branch carry Delaware Children's Museum passes.
• Somerset County Library
• Mt. Laurel Library

"Check out" your museum passes today!

Storytime at Riverton Library

Riverton Free Library

306 Main St., Riverton, NJ  08077

A Branch of the Burlington County Library System

Story Hour Every Tuesday @ 10:30 am and Thursday at 10am"Children, ages infant to 4 years, are invited to join in the fun every Thursday for Story Hour Tuesday. Join us for finger play, books, flannel stories and coloring. No registration is required."

I love the Riverton Free Library. Acutally, I love the entire borough of historic Riverton located on the banks of the Delaware River. It's old time Victorian charm is so quaint and unique and makes going to the library a lot of fun! 

The Riverton Library is old, 1899 old!  So, it is VERY VERY TINY.  Now, that may drive some people crazy because events can be very crowded, but on days where there are no events, it makes it a snap to watch the kiddos.   I love that the kids can look for books in the kids section and on the same floor, only an aisle away, I can peruse the selves for my books.

Many of the library branches in Burlington County have story hour, but what makes the Riverton story hour a little different is the number of active songs and finger plays before the main story.  Mr. Mike actually encourages the kids to jump to the ceiling!  My son being the active one---loves this part of storytime!

My kids also love the visual use of the flannel board to tell stories and depending on the number of participants, Mr. Mike will ask for audience participation.  On the library tables, there is a coloring page and crayons related to the story read. My daughter the artist, loves this part!

What I like about this story time is that registration is not required.  As you all know, It is hard to commit to events because you never know what mood your children will be in until they wake up.  So if the kids are up for it, we go to story hour on Tuesday, or if something else comes up, I don't have to worry about calling and cancelling our registration.  However, the downside to not registring is that there is no limit and the event can be VERY BUSY.  Sometimes it's just too crowded for my little guys, that we opt out of the story hour. 

On nice days, another favorite part of going to the Riverton Library is our walk down to the Delaware River to read our books and eat a snack.  We bring a blanket, some juice boxes,snacks and we create an instant picnic. The kids love checking out the boats, the wildlife, and their books! What a view!