Introducing WhoFi Passes: A Better Way to Share Museum & Attraction Passes with Your Community

Museum and attraction passes are one of those library services patrons truly remember.

When they work well, families enjoy an affordable day at the zoo or museum, students explore new interests, and your library gets to be the reason that experience happens. When they don’t, staff end up running a mini logistics operation behind the desk.

That’s why we’re excited to introduce WhoFi Passes, a new service designed to help libraries offer free or discounted admission to local cultural attractions, without the binders, spreadsheets, or phone tag.

Passes is part of WhoFi’s suite of services and gives libraries a simple way to manage reservations online, directly from the library website, while keeping workflows clear for staff and fair for patrons.

Built on Library Partnerships and Community Impact

Libraries have long partnered with museums, zoos, aquariums, and other cultural institutions to expand access to learning beyond library walls. Passes builds on those relationships by making the experience easier for everyone involved.

With WhoFi Passes, libraries can offer reservations for physical and electronic passes in one place.  This helps patrons explore their community at little to no cost while strengthening connections with local cultural partners.

Why We Built Passes

We’ve talked with many libraries still managing passes with a mix of:

• Paper logs and binders at the desk

• Sticky notes with names and dates

• Spreadsheets that fall out of sync as soon as something changes

• Phone calls just to confirm whether a pass was picked up

The challenge isn’t organization.  It’s that passes are a unique kind of high-demand, time-bound item that traditional workflows weren’t designed to handle.

Over time, the hidden costs add up:

• Equity challenges: First-come, first-served systems often favor patrons who can physically arrive right when doors open.

• Staff burden: Manual checkout, reminder calls, follow-ups, and return tracking take time away from programs and patron support.

• Patron frustration: No one enjoys driving to the library only to find a pass is unavailable, or not being able to check availability online.

• Lost impact data: When pass usage lives on paper, it’s hard to answer basic questions like which passes are used most or which should be renewed.

Libraries deserve a pass workflow that’s lighter for staff, clearer for patrons, and strong on reporting.

What WhoFi Passes Does

WhoFi Passes turns pass lending into a streamlined online experience, with simple controls for staff and clear visibility for patrons.

It supports both:

• Physical passes that are picked up and returned

• Electronic passes (ePasses) that are delivered digitally with no return required

And it works the way pass lending actually works with specific dates, limited inventory, clear policies, and scheduling rules that prevent headaches.

What Patrons See

Patrons start on a clean, easy-to-share reservation page linked directly from your library website. From there, they can browse all available passes and see key details at a glance, including:

• Pass name and type (physical or electronic)

• Benefits of the pass

• Venue website and address

• Your library’s borrowing policy

When a patron selects a date, they immediately see what’s available for that day, and what isn’t, so there’s no guesswork.

How Staff Manage Passes

Inside WhoFi, staff have one centralized dashboard for pass management.

From there, you can see:

• An overview of upcoming pass activity

• Pending reservations that need approval

• Quick access to reservation details

All reservations appear in a calendar and list view, making it easy for staff to stay organized. For each reservation, staff can track pickup, return status, notes, and access ePass PDFs to help patrons reprint or resend.

Optional ILS Verification

If your WhoFi account includes an ILS integration, you can require patrons to verify with their library card number (and PIN when applicable) before booking.

At launch, verification is available for SirsiDynix, Koha, and SIP2, with more integrations coming soon.

Reporting You Can Actually Use

Passes includes reporting designed around real library questions. Monthly reports show:

• Physical vs electronic pass usage

• Month-by-month totals

• Historical comparisons, including year-to-date and prior-year trends

These reports help libraries demonstrate impact to boards and city leadership, identify seasonal demand, and make confident renewal decisions.

Pricing and How to Try Passes

Passes is available as an add-on to your WhoFi subscription:

• $550 annually for a single location

• $350 annually for each additional branch

Libraries can also start with a 30-day free trial to explore the patron experience, staff workflow, and reporting tools before committing. Our service team is happy to help with setup, policies, images, and configuration so your reservation page is ready to share.

Watch the Video Overview

You can also see more of Passes in action by watching this Passes Webinar.

• Watch the Full Passes Webinar Video

A Better Pass Experience for Everyone

Pass lending is one of the most generous services libraries offer. WhoFi Passes was built to protect that generosity.  WhoFi Passes helps make the process fairer for patrons, easier for staff, and clearer for everyone involved.

If your library is ready to move beyond binders, spreadsheets, and phone tag, we’re here to help you make pass lending simple again.