Dear Valued Customer:

Welcome to our new website! We have spent two years creating an innovative, dynamic site with more information than ever before - much of it searchable. Our staff is committed to keeping it fresh and user friendly, but it is you who can tell us if it works, so please use the feedback tool and let us know your thoughts.

You may notice that the Free Library of Philadelphia also has a new look. In thinking about who we are and our mission of providing all segments of the population free access to information and ideas, we thought a great deal about the power of the word FREE. We are here to provide FREE access to knowledge for all; we are a FREE public space open to all; we encourage the FREE exchange of ideas; we are inextricably linked to the city where FREEdom was born.

This Library system of 54 branches, this website, and your Library card enable you to exercise your FREEdom to be informed. Visit us often and feel FREE to let us know what you think!

Siobhan A. Reardon
President and Director

The Mission of The Free Library of Philadelphia is to provide to all segments of Philadelphia's diverse population a comprehensive collection of recorded knowledge, ideas, artistic expression, and information in a variety of media, including current technology; to assure ease of access to these materials; and to provide programs to stimulate the awareness and use of these resources. The Free Library will create a welcoming and inspiring environment for learning and will promote individual enlightenment, community enrichment, and economic vitality throughout the region.

The Free Library has four primary roles: It will provide current materials of high interest in a variety of formats for persons of all ages. It will provide timely, accurate information, and reference services employing a highly qualified staff who provide the link between the Library materials and users in a congenial and professional manner. It will support the educational goals of Philadelphians by providing materials and programs for children, as well as for their parents and caregivers.

The Free Library of Philadelphia will uphold the public's freedom of access to knowledge. It will recognize its responsibility as the Public Library for the City of Philadelphia, as a District Library Center for Philadelphia County, and as a Statewide Resource Center for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The mission of the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation is to develop resources in order to expand, enhance, and support the services, collections, building programs, and other activities of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Through its Board of Directors, the Foundation will seek those resources from individuals, corporations, foundations, and other organizations. Additionally, the Foundation will provide faithful stewardship of the resources and special collections which it owns, and of the funds which the Foundation raises or which have been entrusted to it. The Foundation will also ensure efficient and appropriate expenditure of funds in keeping with the goals and mission of the Free Library, as well as the expressed wishes of donors. Finally, the Foundation will, from time to time, manage and administer those programs whose funding is raised through the Foundation, in concert with the Board of Trustees of The Free Library.