Friends of Montclair Library

Happy New Year and welcome back after the library’s holiday break!

OPL is doing a bit of housekeeping in the new year and updating all patron records.  Between December 11, 2009 and February 28, 2010,  all patrons with library cards must visit a library in person to re-register their card and show a photo ID with their current address (or a recent bill or postmarked letter with current address).  A parent’s ID is acceptable for children, but the child must be present.   It’s a pretty painless process which for most people just consists of showing your driver’s license next time you go to check out books, if you haven’t done it already.

You’ll want to make sure you stop in and update your info, though, because after March 1, 2010 access to online services and to the Internet will not be available to patrons who have not verified their cards.  Plus, beginning March 1, the Library will purge records of patrons who have not visited the library since November 1, 2006 — so anyone who hasn’t used their library card in the past three years will need to get a new one the next time they want to check out materials or take advantage of Library programs and services.

The Library has never before purged old, inactive records, so streamlining things will help them provide better services to active users.  Plus, while re-registering your account you can opt to receive phone or email notifications when your checked out materials are due and when your on-hold items are available (both handy features, I can tell you from personal experience).

Sounds like a great excuse to stop into the library (especially if you haven’t been in a while) and pick up some books to start off the new year!

For further information visit the Library’s Web site.