Donate to the Library

There are two basic ways to donate to the Morris Area Public Library.

Book Donations

The library accepts donations in keeping with its donations policy.  The library does not appraise the value of donations.  If you wish to have an appraisal, please do so before donating to the library.

Monetary Donations

The library also welcomes monetary gifts, bequests, or memorials as long as their use is not restricted by conditions which would conflict with the standard practices and policies of the library.

Monetary donor's names and gifts are kept on file at the library.  Gift and memorial books will be shelved with the regular collection.  Special provision is made to label gifts, memorials, or bequests.

All donations are tax-deductible.

Get a Library Card

Resident Cards

If you live in our service area, you may get a library card free of charge as part of your tax-supported library service.

Your library card allows you to:

• Borrow books, magazines, audiovisual materials, and more from us and from most other public libraries in Illinois.
• Use special online collections to find magazine articles and information you can't get just by searching the web.

To get a library card, bring a form of picture identification and proof of your current address to the library as outlined in the library's Borrowers and Fees policy.

Non-Resident Cards

Anyone living outside our service area and who does not reside within another library's jurisdiction may purchase a library card for $99/ household for one year, effective September 1, 2011.   Nonresident cards may be purchased or renewed through August 31 at $97/ household.

If You Moved and Had an Account at Another Library

The following applies to anyone who has moved to Morris from another library district and who has an account with that library:

If you wish to get a Morris library card, you must have an account in good standing with your former library before a card will be issued.  This means that all checked-out items must be returned and all fines or fees must be paid.  Library staff will assist you when making this transition.

Register for Email Notifications

The Morris Area Public Library offers email notifications for items on hold or checked out.  When a hold arrives, an email notifies you of its arrival.  An email reminder will also be sent three days before an item is due.

To sign up for email notifications, you may call the library at (815) 942-6880 or ask a staff member to register your account.  Please have your library card ready.  You may also contact us with your email address and library card number to sign up for notifications.

If you want to register yourself for notifications, please follow these steps:

1) Access our catalog (the second option in the black bar above)
2) Click on "My Account."
3) Enter your 14-digit library card number.  For the PIN, type in the last 4 digits of your library card number.
3) Click on "Register My Email Address."  A new window will open.
4) Register your account.  You will need to type in your 14-digit library card number and PIN again.  You will also need to enter and re-enter your email address.
5) Click on "Submit."  You are now registered!

Renew Books

To renew books and other items, you may renew by touch-tone phone (call 888-542-7259), bring the items in for renewal, call the library at 815-942-6880, or renew by using the online catalog.

To provide you with faster service, you will need to have your library card and the items to be renewed with you.

Request an Item from Outside PrairieCat

If you cannot find the item(s) you're searching for in our online catalog, you may contact library staff to request a search outside of the PrairieCat consortium.  You may contact staff by using the Ask-A-Librarian form, by calling the library at (815) 942-6880, or by visiting the library at 604 Liberty Street.  To complete the request, we will need:
* Your library card
* The title of the item
* Author/performer/group name, if applicable

Use the Online Catalog

The online catalog is a powerful tool that will help you locate all types of information quickly and easily.  You can access 6 million items from almost 200 libraries right at your fingertips!  The catalog is web-based and is available from any computer with an internet connection.  Here's how to get started...

TO SEARCH THE LIBRARY CATALOG:

Type a word or words in the white box and click on the “Search” button.

• You can search all words in the library catalog, or pull down the arrow and change your selection to search by author, title, subject, series or periodical (magazine), etc.
• You can search just what your library owns, or choose all libraries that participate in the PrairieCat consortium.
• IT IS RECOMMENDED that you log in on the catalog homepage using your library barcode number and PIN (the default PIN is the last four digits of your barcode number; this can be changed when you are logged in).  This will make placing holds and reviewing your account much easier.  Remember to log out when you are finished.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES ON THE CATALOG HOMEPAGE:

• Click on Advanced Search to search by author, title, or other options.  Click on Go Back to return to a basic search.
• Use the tabs across the top of the page to access your library account (My Account), conduct an advanced search (Advanced Search), browse by subject (Find It Fast!), browse chldren's materials (Kids' Library), or access several library catalogs and useful links (Knowledge Portal).
  
• Click on Search Hints for tips on conducting searches.

ONCE YOU HAVE PERFORMED A SEARCH:

You will see a “Results List.”  This list is sorted with the most recent publications being listed first.

• Click on the title (blue) for more information about a specific title that interests you.  You can also do this by clicking the More Info button on the right side of each item record
• Check the Add Item box to create a list of items.  By choosing Kept from the list of options in the tan toolbar, you can create customized lists for printing.
• If a record has an icon of a sun, clicking the icon will take you to the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database and show you a review of the item.
• Click the Place Hold button to place an item on reserve in your name (you will be prompted to log in if you didn't do so on the catalog homepage).
• Other options include returning to your original search (Go Back), looking up help topics (Help), conducting a new search (New Search), narrowing your search by title, author, etc. (Limit Search), moving forward or backward through the results list (Previous and Next; can also click the individual page numbers at the top of the results list), looking up more information by cross-referencing the search results with shared authors or subjects (X-Ref), or logging out of the catalog (Logout).
• If your search is wide enough to yield multiple search results, you will see a column on the right side of the screen.  You can click on any of the blue topics to narrow your search by items cataloged within that topic.

ONCE YOU HAVE SELECTED A TITLE:

Click on the title or More Info for more specific information about the item.  The detailed record will display.  The default screen displays author, title, and publication details as well as the location of the item at the library so you can locate it on the shelf if it is currently available.

• You can view a summary and Publishers Weekly review of the item by clicking A Look Inside
• To view a table of contents, song tracks, poems or other works within an anthology, and the like, click Catalog Record for full details.
• Click on Place Hold to place a hold on the item.
• Click on Find more by this author, Find more on these topics, or Nearby items on shelf to view related items
  
• Click on Change Display to modify how the catalog records' fields are displayed
• If the item you are interested in is an e-resource (e-book or downloadable audiobook), use the chain link icon to connect to it online.  “[Electronic Resource]” will be next to the title.

TO RENEW AN ITEM:

Log in to My Account.  Click on Renew My Materials and enter your library card number and PIN.

• The default setting is to Renew Selected Items.  You may change it to Renew All if needed.
• Select the items to be renewed by checking the box next to each title.
• Click Renew Selected Items at the bottom of the page.
• You will be notified how many items were successfully renewed along with brief information about the items
• If an item cannot be renewed online, please call the library at (815) 942-6880.

TO CHANGE YOUR PIN:

The default PIN is the last 4 numbers of your library card. To change it to another PIN:

• Log in to My Account.
• Click on User PIN Change.
• You will be prompted to enter your library card number, your current PIN, and the new PIN twice.
• Click on Change PIN.
• We strongly recommend that you register your email address in My Account if you change your PIN.  Staff does not have access to anyone’s PIN, especially if it has been changed, but a PIN is easily emailed to you through the catalog if you forget what yours is.

IF YOU FORGET YOUR PIN:

With an email address on file:

• Log in to My Account.
• Click on Send PIN.
• Enter your 14-digit library card number (without spaces) and click “Submit.”
   

Without an email address on file:

• Try using the last four digits of your library card number (the default PIN).
• If the default PIN does not work, please contact library staff at (815) 942-6880.  They will help you reset your PIN.
  

 

IN MY ACCOUNT YOU CAN ALSO:

• Review your account--what's checked out and what's on hold, what (if anything) is overdue, how much you owe in fines, etc.
• Register your email address--this is strongly recommended as it makes retrieving your PIN easier
• Send PIN--you may have your PIN emailed to you if you've registered your email address

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call the library at (815) 942-6880.

 

Get a Newsfeed of Library Headlines

This website has several "feeds", which allow you to automatically receive links to news and events as they're posted on the site. Using feeds is a convenient way to keep up with as many blogs, news sites, and other websites as you like. For a quick tutorial about feeds and how they work, see Common Craft's RSS in Plain English video.

Feeds are marked with a special icon , which you click to "subscribe" to the feed by adding it to whichever program you use as a feed reader (see below). 

Feeds on this site include:

• Library news
• Items featured on the Home page
• Events

There are a number of tools available for subscribing to and reading feeds. Here are a few examples:

• Online feed readers, such as Google Reader or Bloglines.
• Software, such as NewsGator, that you download and install on your computer.
• Widgets for your own web space or portal, such as on MySpace, Google, or My Yahoo.
• The toolbars on some web browsers, like Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox.
• RSS feed support in some email programs, like Outlook 2007.

Each tool has its own specific instructions for adding feeds, but the process is usually as simple as pasting in the feed's address or selecting from a menu.