All resources are accessible in any of our San Mateo County Libraries.  To access library resources from home, you will need your library card number. To apply for a library card online click here.

How can I access these Databases and eBooks collections from home?

• Remote access (access from home, work, or school) requires each user to enter his or her library card number.
• The San Mateo County Library (SMCL) is a member of the Peninsula Library System (PLS), a cooperative of both city and county libraries. PLS libraries jointly subscribe to online resources that all our users can access from home using a valid library card.
• The San Mateo County Library also subscribes separately to additional online resources.  Due to licensing agreements, you can access these independently owned resources from home only if you have a valid library card and live in one of the San Mateo County Library jurisdictions.  You can still, however, access these resources from within the owning library regardless of your residence.
• If a person lives in San Carlos and pays taxes based on a San Carlos residence, he/she receives a library card from the San Mateo County Library, as San Carlos is within SMCL’s jurisdictions.  As such, this user will have remote access privileges to the online resources jointly owned by the PLS system and SMCL’s separately owned databases.
• If a person pays taxes based on a Daly City residence, he/she receives a library card from the Daly City Library and remote access privileges to PLS online resources and the Daly City Library’s separately owned resources, but not the resources owned independently by the San Mateo County Library.
• In short: whoever you pay your taxes to, based on where you live, is whose online resources you can access from home.  We know it’s all rather confusing, but if you want to confirm the library assigned to your library card and verify which online resources you can access, please contact your local library for assistance.