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Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8
In answer to your question, tubemonkey, I live in Florida. I don't know how many library systems do it, but at least one, in the county just south of me will grant a library card to anyone in Florida (well, anyone who would meet same the criteria that someone within their district would have to meet); I suspect that many others will do that, too. I probably need to find the appropriate forum and post that information there, too.
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It's called reciprocal borrowing and quite a few libraries across the US do it. I live in the Seattle area and most of the libraries around here allow it. This topic has been discussed in multiple threads scattered about the various forums here. It would be nice if we had a separate forum for libraries so we could consolidate all of these threads and sticky key topics, but the powers to be don't want one. One of the problems with this fragmentation is getting information out so that it doesn't come as a surprise to anyone where they've missed opportunities that could've saved them money.
A restriction with reciprocal borrowing that is starting to crop up, is that some of the libraries won't allow digital checkouts for those with reciprocal library cards. This has to do with restrictions placed on them from the publishers via OverDrive. There's no consistency with this, because quit a few libraries still allow it. So far, none of my libraries are affected (fingers crossed).
Related to reciprocal borrowing are fee cards for out-of-state residents. Four libraries that I'm aware of will allow it - Brooklyn NY ($50/yr), Philadelphia PA ($50/yr), Hennepin County MN ($60/yr), Orange County FL ($125/yr). I'm sure there are more, but I haven't researched it yet. The odd man out in this group is Hennepin. While they'll gladly sell you an out-of-state card, they won't allow you to check out digital books. You have to physically visit one of their branches and check out physical books.