Above: The Southborough Library is now offering by-appointment curbside pickup service for materials in its collection. (from Facebook)
Are you sick of reading “books” on devices or re-reading the same books over and over? For book lovers who have been eager to get their hands on a real library book, there’s good news today.
The Southborough Library has resumed checking out books and other materials. There are a few important caveats.
You won’t be allowed inside the Library to browse. Instead, you’ll need to call ahead (or email) your requests for an assigned curbside pickup time.
To make it easier, staff encourage you to check out their online catalog to find the information on the authors and titles you want. And that’s where other caveats come in.
When you run your searches, make sure to restrict them to the Southborough Library’s collection.
(The Library is part of a large interlibrary network for central/western Mass. In normal days, it’s easy to request a book from another library’s collection. But that network has yet to reopen. So, only the Southborough Library’s own materials are available to patrons at this time.)
Once you find your desired selections in the online catalog, don’t use the system to “place a hold”. Instead, contact the Library directly with the information:
Please call us at 508-485-5031 or e-mail Ryan at rdonovan@cwmars.org to place your order for library material.
The new Library hours are Monday – Thursday from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. Pickup will only be available for assigned times during those hours.
To help you navigate the new rules, the Library created a pdf to read and a video to watch.
Since the Library has resumed lending materials, I encourage anyone who has been sitting on borrowed items they no longer need to drop them in the return box. (The Library has been processing returns. But, given their inability to lend them back out, they haven’t been enforcing due dates during the closure.)
If the pickup hours don’t work for you, or you’d rather stay at home – there are still plenty of ebook options available with your library card.
