Macy’s and the Chicago Suburban Libraries started their Museum Adventure Pass Program early this month, offering free admission to area museums, historical sites and cultural centers.

The yearlong program, ending in August 2010, is offering free pass admissions to 17 participating museums. If a participating museum already offers free admission, the pass will give a discount on purchases in the facility’s gift shop. The passes, which are valid for seven days, are offered at organizations participating in the program, including the Oriental Institute Museum, Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden.

“Brookfield Zoo is very happy to be apart of the collaboration with Macy’s and the library system,” said Sondra Katzen, spokeswoman for Chicago Zoological Society. “The zoo started the program three years ago, called Wild About Reading, with one of the library systems and [it] was well-received. It’s expanded and now Macy’s is sponsoring us.”

Katzen said with the current economic decline, this is a nice way to give back to the community and celebrate their 75th anniversary.

Each participating library has a limited number of passes available for each of the participating organizations on a first-come, first-served basis. Passes can be obtained using a library card.

“It’s easy for passes to get taken by patrons fast because there’s only four passes available to each of the 17 locations,” said Janice Bojda, head of Children’s Services at the Evanston Public Library.

Bojda said libraries and museums are natural partners that are both cultural and educational institutions. She said Macy’s previously ran a similar program in several other cities.

“Macy’s is offering the money behind getting the database up and running and cool graphics to go on flyers,” Bojda said. “The museums have their own goals to bring in people that they normally wouldn’t see in their institutions to come.”

“The public libraries are giving patrons something else they can use their library card for instead of [just] books and videos,” Bojda said.

The day of the kickoff, many surrounding suburbs came out to Brookfield Zoo to meet the organizations participating in the program.

“We went out to Brookfield Zoo and met librarians from almost all the libraries,” said Carol Krucoff, manager of Media Relations at the Oriental Institute Museum. “Some said, ‘We love your museum,’ and most have never heard of us. They said they are really going to spread the word and since then at least five of the libraries have checked out our passes.”

The Oriental Institute Museum is a museum of ancient history art from the Middle East. Krucoff said they have collections there that are world renowned, such as the statue of King Tut that’s 17 feet tall and the biggest in the Western Hemisphere.

“People will have to go to Europe or the Middle East to see things like this, and so few people in Chicago and the surrounding areas know about us,” Krucoff said. “We’re like a well-kept hidden jewel, as people say, once they find us.”

Krucoff said this is a great way to kick off the month of September because September is Library Card Sign-up Month for the American Library Association.

“This was a glorious opportunity that Macy’s is providing—free publicity and marketing for us to let the world know about our wonderful resources for adults, families, schools and teachers at no cost,” Krucoff said. “We saw it as a wonderful gift, so this is what we hope to do to familiarize people with us and help them come visit us.”

Bojda said the program will give other museums an opportunity to participate in the program.

“The program is a year pilot program, and Macy’s agreed to fund the program for a year,” Bojda said. “The program is going pretty well and it’s been popular. Some museums may say, ‘Hey, it looks like the program is working out well for our neighboring museums, let’s see if we can get in there.’”

For a complete list of the 17 participating museums and libraries, visit MuseumAdventure.org