New York Liberty-Themed Brooklyn Public Library Cards Arrive This June

New York City hoopers and readers, your time has come.

In honor of the New York Liberty winning the 2024 WNBA Championship and the kickoff of the 2025 WNBA season, The Brooklyn Public Library today announced a collaboration to issue special edition library cards featuring the New York Liberty players, and Liberty mascot, Ellie the Elephant.

100,00 Liberty and Brooklyn Basketball-themed library cards will be available at all branches of the Brooklyn Public Library starting next Monday, June 2. Library cards are free to New Yorkers of all ages and can be used at all 61 branches of the Brooklyn Public Library, as well as for digital resources including ebooks and audiobooks.

This partnership is also an initiative to support the library’s summer reading programming and promote literacy.

This Sunday, June 1, The Liberty and Brooklyn Public Library will celebrate their collaboration as part of Ellie’s Birthday at the Liberty game at Barclays Center. Fans attending the 1 p.m. game can enjoy book-themed activations in and around the arena, including a Brooklyn Public Library bookmobile on the plaza, offering books for loan to library card holders.

Inside the arena, a special photo booth will be set up, and Ellie-themed bookmarks will be given away for free. Each bookmark will include a QR code linking to an Ellie-approved reading list for readers of all ages. Ellie’s curated summer reading list includes Brooklyn and basketball themed titles like Lola Joins the Team by Keka Novales, A Kids Book about Equality by Billie Jean King, Love and Sportsball by Meka James, Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson, and Coming Home by Brittney Griner.

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To further recognize the New York Liberty’s commitment to the community, Liberty CEO Keia Clarke will accept the 2025 Brooklyn Public Library Gala Award, presented by Jacqueline Woodson, on behalf of the team at the library’s annual gala on Wednesday, June 11 at the Brooklyn Central Library.

Ros Gold-Onwude, a national sportscaster and retired basketball player, will host the charitable event, also honoring Google. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver are on the chair committee, among other notable philanthropists and business leaders. Individual tickets start at $1500.

The New York Liberty recently broke records with a $450 million valuation, the highest ever for a professional women’s sports franchise. The new valuation followed a recently announced investment in the team by a group including supermodel Karlie Kloss, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Metropolitan Capital CEO Karen Finerman, TIAA president and CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, philanthropist and private equity founder Gabrielle Rubenstein, and philanthropist Samantha Lasry.