Get a Library Card

If you live in Rock Island, Milan or the Milan-Blackhawk Area Public Library District, you may get a library card free of charge:

Your library card allows you to:

• Borrow books and more materials from us, other Quad City libraries and from most other public libraries in the Prairie Area Library System.
• Use free online research tools to quickly find information you can't get just by searching the web. Find magazine articles, car repair data, genealogy records, business and medical information, grant info, online encyclopedias, stock information, practice exams and more!
• Check your account and renew some items online.
• Download eAudiobooks and more from the NetLibrary.
• Use our Internet and word processing PCs.

To get a library card,

• Come to the Circulation Desk  at any of our three locations, and fill out a short application.  If you present two forms of identification, you may have the card the same day. If you have only one form of ID , we will mail you your card.  You may check out up to three items with one form of ID.
• Children twelve and under must have a parent's or guardian's signature. 
• Acceptable forms of identification must have your current name and address. They include: 
  
  1. Drivers license
  2. Voter registration card
  3. Utility bill
  4. Rent receipt/lease agreement
  5. State ID card
  6. Property tax receipt
  7. Illinois Department of Public Aid medical card
  8. Bank statement
  9. Gun permit
  10. Car registration
  11. Bus pass
  12. Selective Service card
  13. Blood donor card
  14. Hunting/fishing license
  15. Car insurance card
  16. Current piece of mail addressed to patron (postmarked within the last 3 months)

 

Renew Books

Four ways to renew books and other items:

1. Bring the item and your library card into any public library. Any library may renew another library's items, as long as the item qualfies for renewal and does not have other holds waiting. Please note that 7-day entertainment DVDs are not eligible for renewal.
2. Call the Prairie Area Library System (PALS) renewal phone line at 888-542-7259. A pre-recorded system will lead you through a series of prompts. You will need to have your library card handy.
3. Use the self-check at any of our three Rock Island Library locations.
4. Use online renewal, the simplest way to renew items. Go to Search and click the link for "Check my account." You'll see a choice for "Renew my Items."  Again, you'll need to have your library barcode and password handy.

If you use the phone or online renewal methods, the system will tell you if the item has been renewed. The system will also tell you if the item is not eligible for renewal. In that case, you will need to return the item by its original due date in order to avoid fines.

Also, please note that the phone and online systems require you to renew the item before midnight on the day it is due. If the item is already overdue, you will need to visit our library in person.

Remember that if you've signed up for e-mail notification, we'll automatically remind you  three days before an item is due. To save a dime, return on time! 

If you have any questions about renewal policies, please call Circulation at 309-732-7323 (READ). Sorry, library staff cannot renew items by phone.

 

 

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.