Libraries offer free museum admission through Experience Kits program

Libraries may be bursting with books, but they offer much more to their card holders, including free museum admission with the Experience Kits program.

Beginning June 1, libraries including Monroeville Public Library will offer their card holders free admission to nine historical sites: Sen. John Heinz History Center, Duncan & Miller Glass Museum, Fort Pitt Museum, Historic Fort Steuben, Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, Merrick Art Gallery, Old Economy Village, Somerset Historical Center, and West Overton Village & Museum.

Each Experience Kit provides library card holders with free admission for up to four people per visit, as well as educational support materials and itinerary suggestions tailored to the site. Kits can be checked out for one week at a time.

Experience Kits program stems from the original collaboration between the Heinz History Center Affiliate Program, which includes more than 125 regional historical societies and organizations dedicated to preserving their local history, and Whitehall Public Library. As of 2022, the initiative has since expanded to include more than 50 libraries throughout four counties.

According to Sarah Scott, a librarian at Whitehall Public Library, the program has grown in value since she started the initiative in 2017.

“With each year of this project, we are able to offer more for our communities,” she said. “It has been fun finding new opportunities to explore, and the positive feedback we receive from patrons is incredibly rewarding.”

Later this year, the libraries and historical sites will offer free virtual spotlight lectures that showcase the significance of the sites and a few of the remarkable relics found in their collections. In conjunction with these adult programs, the libraries will offer virtual storytime programs with fun and engaging activities for children.

“It’s been great to see this program grow and evolve over time to include more libraries and to incorporate so many different and diverse museums,” Robert Stakeley, history center affiliates program manager at the Sen. John Heinz History Center, said. “With the current price of gasoline limiting travel, this program provides everyone with an excellent opportunity to explore what our region has to offer within a short driving distance.”

As an added incentive this year, anyone who visits at least three sites before Oct. 31 can enter to win one of five raffle baskets.

For more information about the Experience Kits, contact Monroeville Public Library at www.monroevillelibrary.org/contact.html.