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100 Things to Explore at MPL

  1. Try a recipe from the Historic Recipe File.
  2. Explore our YouTube channel and view virtual programs you may have missed.
  3. Whether an experienced hiker or just looking to get the family outdoors, check out a Hiking Backpack Kit complete with binoculars, compass, and local bird forestry guides.
  4. Keep an eye on your blood pressure with a Blood Pressure Monitor generously donated by the American Heart Association.
  5. Watch retro promotional videos from MPL's Own Archives from decades past.
  6. Learn a new language using one of our Databases (Digital Resources): Mango Languages, Pronunciator, or Transparent Language.
  7. Check out digital magazines with OverDrive Magazines.
  8. Check out a Birding in Milwaukee Backpack generously donated by the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin.
  9. Visit our NOW@MPL Blog to read interesting stories and research articles written by staff.
  10. Walk the Field Work MKE Poetry Path around Central Library and the Milwaukee Public Museum.
  11. Get Kanopy, a cost-free and ad-free movie, and TV streaming service.
  12. Stream (or download and keep) free music from Freegal Music. 
  13. Learn about Central Library through the self-guided tour! Scan the QR codes on kiosks stationed throughout the building, or you can find this digital tour on our website.
  14. Sample the Historic Menu Collection—an assortment of Milwaukee area menus from the early 20th century to the present.
  15. Get unlimited, simultaneous access to thousands of digital comics, graphic novels, and manga from a variety of library-friendly publishers with Comics Plus®.
  16. Browse the library's historical Sheet Music Collection online.
  17. Follow MPL on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
  18. Develop a new skill using Gale Courses with online classes that range from learning American Sign Language to grant writing.
  19. Check out a Chromebook from any MPL location (Must be 18 years old or older).
  20. Cozy up by a fireplace at the East, Good Hope, Mitchell Street, or Villard Square Branches.
  21. Take a selfie with the Ben Franklin sculpture at the Wisconsin Avenue entrance of the Central Library.
  22. Prepare for standardized tests with eBooks, online courses, and full-length practice tests for GED, SAT, ACT, AP, PSAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, TOEFL, U.S. citizenship, and more in Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep.
  23. Research your family genealogy on Ancestry Institutional Edition*.
    (*Not available outside of Milwaukee Public Libraries, but some free content from the National Archives is now available remotely.)
  24. View our Wisconsin Concert Poster Digital Collection of performances in the Milwaukee area.
  25. Look for the architectural plans for your home using the Wisconsin Architectural Archive (WAA).
  26. View historic maps and atlases in the Frank P. Zeidler Humanities Room. 
  27. Learn about the history of Milwaukee's city government by viewing the City of Milwaukee Archives.
  28. Use the Value Line 'Investment Education' tab to learn about stocks and how to diversify your portfolio.
  29. Take a little one to a Story Time at various library locations to give them a head start on reading.
  30. Build a business plan with our Business Research resources.
  31. Identify the famous African Americans in the Center Street Branch mural in the vestibule.
  32. Browse the Irene Bishop Goggans Digital Collection that contains materials pertaining to the African American community in Milwaukee and across the country.
  33. Get to know the Libby - the library reading app to download free ebooks and audiobooks.
  34. Make an appointment to see unimaginable rarities from the Richard E. & Lucile Krug Rare Books Room at the Central Library. 
  35. Make a Gift to the Milwaukee Public Library Foundation to help support library services in the community. 
  36. Bring the kid in your life to the Good Hope Branch to build a fort out of moveable blocks.
  37. Ask a Question by calling Ready Reference (414) 286-3011, via text, IM, or email.
  38. Find a program that interests you, either virtual or in-person, on our Events, Programs & Classes online calendar. 
  39. Find the upside-down pillar on the marble Grand Staircase at the Wisconsin Avenue entrance of Central Library going up to the 2nd floor.
  40. Students can access MPL's full array of online resources 24/7 by visiting librarynow.org - at school, at home, on tablets, phones, laptops, or desktop computers.
  41. Register online for a new library card! 
  42. Put an item on hold using CountyCat and have it delivered to the branch of your choice. Download the CountyCat Mobile App to make browsing, requesting, and renewing materials easy. 
  43. Learn about the history of Browser the Library Lion and more on the Kid's web page.
  44. Use a desktop or sit anywhere in the library with a library laptop.
  45. See the Spirit of Manitou Guido Brink sculpture at the Tippecanoe Branch.
  46. Visit the Media Room at Central Library and find a wide selection of items there, including records!
  47. See what they're saying about MPL on the news and radio by visiting our Library Press Room.
  48. Explore the East Branch's interior and exterior public art.
  49. Work with live virtual tutors and specialists using Brainfuse in a variety of subjects for all ages including tutoring and resume help.
  50. Take advantage of the Mitchell Street Branch's extensive Spanish language selection areas for every age group.
  51. Connect a friend (or yourself!) with resources available at the Wisconsin Talking Book & Braille Library (WTBBL) for the Blind and print disabled.
  52. Immerse yourself in the floor-to-ceiling murals of Reynaldo Hernández on three walls of the Children's Area at the Center Street Branch.
  53. Print, Scan, & Fax at your neighborhood branch! 
  54. Visit the makerspaces to make crafts and fun memories! Attend Open Maker Time or schedule an appointment. Makerspaces are at the Good Hope, Martin Luther King, Mitchell Street, and Washington Park Branches. 
  55. Find the mice carved into a pillar in the Central Library's Betty Brinn Children's Room.
  56. Help a friend (or yourself!) prepare for the exam to become a US citizen using ProCitizen U. S. Citizenship Preparation.
  57. Ponder the meaning of the 400 lb Megaphor statue by Steve Feren in the Washington Park Branch lobby made from more than 160 blown glass objects.
  58. Explore the Great Lakes Marine Collection of ship files, log books, wreck reports, and more, documenting vessels that sailed the Great Lakes.
  59. Make a little kid's day by watching the train out the west windows of the Good Hope Branch.
  60. View the Milwaukee Black Arts Movement Digital Collection containing materials relating to the Black Arts Movement in Milwaukee from across Milwaukee Public Library collections.
  61. Look at the Scrapbook of Japanese Prints Digital Collection. A meticulously organized scrapbook of original 1800s woodblock prints (ukiyo-e), featuring the works of Utagawa Kunisada and others.
  62. View historic newspapers, including past Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel editions in-person and online.
  63. Can't find what you want in our catalog? Recommend a Purchase! 
  64. Learn how to patent or trademark your idea.
  65. On the north-facing wall of the Villard Square Branch, find the person reading and follow the birds to find who they are reading to
  66. Attend a guided Central Library Architectural Docent Tour.
  67. Explore the Historic Photo Archives' large collections of photographs, negatives, and slides of people and places from Milwaukee’s past.
  68. Walk the Central Library Art Gallery featuring paintings featuring Milwaukee scenes on loan from the Milwaukee Art Museum's permanent collection.
  69. Stroll over the tile art map of the Bay View area at three different points of the population (1836, 1900, and 1993) in the lobby of the Bay View Branch.
  70. Download Hoopla on your device to check out available ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies, TV shows, and more immediately!
  71. Use the African American Genealogy Pathfinder to get started searching for ancestors.
  72. Are you a Milwaukee teacher? Get a special Teacher Card for fine forgiveness, extended loan periods, and more on MPL-owned items.
  73. Take a Green Roof Tour at the Central Library (April-October).
  74. Use DITTO, a copy service of the Milwaukee Public Library. Get copies of government documents, magazine articles, military specifications, newspaper articles, obituaries and death notices, and many other materials from the library's collection, copied in a timely manner for a fee.  
  75. Enjoy the stained glass windows at the Atkinson Branch.
  76. Hang out and read in the newly remodeled Zablocki Branch courtyard.
  77. Check out our Refugee and Immigrant Services for English Language Learners (ELL) including English Conversation Hour and English Reading Hour programming.
  78. Download (and keep) a book of poetry - or hundreds of other books - with eBook Collection (EBSCO).
  79. Get a Business Card for corporations, partnerships, government agencies, associations, and non-profits, located in the City of Milwaukee.
  80. Access this treasure trove of unique, digitized local history collections right in your living room through our MPL Digital Library.
  81. Pose with the giant book in the Betty Brinn Children's Room entryway full of memorable quotations lit with colorful spotlights.
  82. Lift up your voice and register to vote at any MPL location.
  83. Appreciate the poignancy of Wishes in the Wind by David Lenz at Central Library, featuring three Milwaukee children playing on Holton Street.
  84. Learn about the world's cultural diversity with Country Reports.
  85. Use PropertyLink(SM) Library Edition to look up real estate information like owners, assessments, tax values, structural features, and sales history of parcels throughout the state.
  86. Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter to stay up-to-date on upcoming programs and events at MPL!
  87. View the Wisconsin Writer's Hall of Fame at the Central Library that pays tribute to a spectrum of literary talents--novelists, poets, journalists, playwrights, historians--whose work has been influenced by their life and experiences in Wisconsin.
  88. Find that dance hall your grandparents met at by researching the history of a Wisconsin business with our Business History resources.
  89. Pick up your holds from the comfort of your car at the Central Library Drive-Up along the 8th Street side of the library.
  90. Enjoy a snapshot of Milwaukee from 1976-1981 with these CETA Arts Program Photographs taken by students capturing “The Spirit of Milwaukee”
  91. View Art as Anchor: The Milwaukee Public Library and the Black Arts Movement, a new art installation at the Central Library and new digital collection honor the legacy of Milwaukee's Black Arts Movement and the anchor role played by the Milwaukee Public Library.  
  92. View the Hans Christian Andersen window designed by Marie Herndl (one of the first women to work in stained glass) in the Betty Brinn Children's Room at Central Library
  93. Look through civil rights activist and America's Black Holocaust Museum founder Dr. James Cameron's historic Pamphlet Collection.
  94. Use PressReader for access to over 6,000 newspapers and magazines.
  95. Do you have an ancestor who fought in World War I? Are you interested in military history? View our World War I Military Portraits that include information and images of thousands of Wisconsin soldiers.  
  96. View the Poster Collections of the Milwaukee Public Library. It covers a variety of topics such as local history, film, travel, theater, World War I, and World War II.
  97. Meet authors and illustrators of youth literature and find diverse books with BookConnections.
  98. Share your time and generosity through volunteer opportunities at MPL.
  99. Find the "Keep our Library Open!" protest art by Nicolas Lampert and Paul Kjellard at the Villard Square Branch.
  100. Visit the newest branch - the Martin Luther King Branch, which opened on September 6, 2025.