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Local Wanderer: Experience More of Orlando With Your Library Card

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You already know your library card means adventure. Dive into the pages of a book you’ve borrowed and you’re off to other worlds. Adventure, though, can be right around the corner and now Orange County Library System (OCLS) is going to help you find it with our Local Wanderer program. Largely inspired by New York Public Library’s Culture Pass, the program gives library cardholders access to cultural and entertainment offerings in our area. 

In creating our version of the program, we wanted to find a name that would convey the purpose of the project: to get Orlandoans to explore cultural offerings in their own backyard that they might not be aware of or might be unable to afford. Unsurprisingly, a high percentage of book nerds are library staff, so we were influenced by a poem in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series, specifically the line:

“Not all those who wander are lost … ”

With your library card, you’ll be able to “check out” free admissions to arts and cultural experiences. To make this happen, OCLS has partnered with organizations such as Hard Rock Live, Orlando Science Center, Mennello Museum and Orlando Solar Bears, among others – with participants still being added. 

“We are excited to team up with Orange County Library System on a program that opens up a world of possibilities,” said Glen Gentele, Director & CEO of Orlando Museum of Art. The museum was among the first to sign on to the program. “Simply put: the Local Wanderer initiative provides more people in our community a direct path to the arts.” 

So what are you waiting for? Grab your own Samwise Gamgee by the hand and experience all that Orange County has to offer. Visit ocls.info/localwanderer for a full line-up of our generous Local Wanderer participants and specifics of what they’re offering.


PHOTO BY GARRETT JURSS PHOTOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE ARTIST

In keeping with the hyperlocal
feel of Local Wanderer, Orange
County Library System turned
to a local talent to create a fresh
look for this innovative program.
Sean Walsh is an Orlando based
illustrator and designer. In 2015,
he founded Secret Society Goods,
a tongue-in-cheek gift shop
for the crepuscular underworld.
Learn more about Sean and his
company at 
secretsocietygoods.com.