WESTBROOK – Patrons of Westbrook’s Walker Memorial Library will have access to more books and information thanks to the library’s new partnership with the Portland Public Library.

As of July 1, Walker Memorial Library has partnered with the Portland library to allow staff at Walker to issue Portland Public Library cards in Westbrook. According to library staff, Walker will still be issuing its own cards, as well, but will be offering the Portland cards as an additional service.

The free Portland Public Library cards have always been available to residents of Cumberland and York counties, as well as full-time students attending school in those counties and people working in Portland.

“This is an exciting development for people throughout the area as well as Walker Library patrons,” said Marian Peterson, who recently retired as the adult services librarian at Walker. “This goes far beyond borrowing books from Portland. The added online databases offer a wealth of information that has not been available to our patrons before this arrangement with Portland Public Library.”

Highlights of the new resources available from Portland include genealogy information from HeritageQuest and Ancestry Plus, auto repair manuals, learn-a-test programs that can be used from home and kids’ e-books from Tumblebooks Library.

Access to these databases is free to anyone with a valid Portland Public Library card. Walker Memorial Library has begun registering eligible residents for the free cards, and most of the resources are available immediately.

Although a few of the databases can be accessed only from Portland Public Library, most are available through any Internet connection.