Circulation Services

How to get a library card

If you live in the City of Rock Island or in the Milan-Blackhawk Area Library District, you are eligible for a Rock Island Public Library card. If you aren't sure if your address is in our service area, please check our service area map at files/images/RI_Library_Service_Area.pdf or call 309-732-READ (7323).

To receive your 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 with current address information, you may have the card the same day.If you have only one form of ID , we will mail you your card. Children twelve and under must have a parent's or guardian's signature.
Library cards are free when you first apply or when you renew. If your card is lost or stolen, contact the library immediately so your account can be made inactive. You are liable for checkouts made on your card. You may report the loss in person at the Circulation Desk or call the number at the top of the page. There is a $5 replacement fee for a lost card.
Your Rock Island Public Library card, in good standing, may be used at any library in the Praire Area Library System.www.palsnet.info/members/public/allpublic.asp

Good Reads

Thanks to support from the Rock Island Public Library Foundation,the Rock Island Public Library now subscribes to Bookletters, an exciting new service to help you decide what to read, watch or listen to next.

Click any of the covers below to read Bookletters online. Or click Good Reads in the menu bar at the top of this page to get news about books, audio and DVDs in your e-mail mailbox!

How to use E-books and more

NET Library: Welcome to the world of electronic books!

The NET Library provides you with access to a large collection of electronic books 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All you need is an account and a computer that is connected to the Internet. Once you have set up your own personal account at a local library, you can read eBooks whenever you want.

This electronic library contains a wide variety of materials. Some of it is literary, and in the public domain. Other books are important references that can be used for research. All eBooks in the collection are available for you to read or to check out. Depending upon a book’s status, you may check it out for 24 hours, 3 days, or only view it online.

Before you do anything else —

You will need to set up your own personal account. Importantly, you can only set up your account while you are at a computer on the premises of a local library. Each library subscribes to its own group of eBooks. You may have more than one account, each with its own unique Username and Password. Accounts can be set up at any Quad City library.

For example, you can set up an account at the Rock Island Public Library and at the Davenport Public Library. However, you must go to each library to set up the accounts so you can use each library’s eBook collection. The system will not let you use the same names or passwords for different accounts.

For full details on how to use this great service, please click here to go to the instruction sheet in our Reference Services section.

Downloadable e-books are also available! You can use our E-Book subscription to download audio books onto your computer and personal MP3 player. To use this feature, follow the link to the instructions for NET Library.

It All Starts With a Library Card!

Your access to thousands and thousands of free and low-cost resources at your Rock Island Library starts with a library card. Additionally, library cards allow you to benefit from other library services, such as free Internet access and using web-based library services from home. Your library card is the smartest card in your wallet.

Here are four more great things about having a Library card:

1. You can use any library card from the Prairie Area Library System to borrow items from the Rock Island Library. And, you can return items borrowed from any library TO any library in the Prairie Area system.

2. You can quickly and easily renew your books online.

3. You can sign up for free e-mail reminders that let you know when books you've placed on hold are available - or when the item is coming due.

4. You can reserve library items from home for pick up at the library of your choice.

More stuff you should know:

Most items check out for three weeks, with a maximum of one renewal. Vacation checkouts and teacher checkouts of six weeks are available.

Some exceptions include 7-day DVDs, which are not renewable, and new (current issue) magazines, which must be read in the library. Back issue magazines check out for three weeks.

Children's cards (12 and under) require a parent's signature for approval. Children 13 and older may apply for a library card on their own.

You're liable for materials checked out on your card, so call us immediately if your card is lost or stolen. You may also want to think twice before lending your library card to another, for the same reason.

Computer users must use their own card for Internet access. Use of another person's card or card number may result in loss of Internet privileges.

How to get a library card

How to get a library card

If you live in the City of Rock Island or in the Milan-Blackhawk Area Library District, you are eligible for a Rock Island Public Library card. If you aren't sure if your address is in our service area, please check our service area map at files/images/RI_Library_Service_Area.pdf or call 309-732-READ (7323).
To receive your 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. Children twelve and under must have a parent's or guardian's signature.
Library cards are free when you first apply or when you renew. If your card is lost or stolen, contact the library immediately so your account can be made inactive. You are liable for checkouts made on your card. You may report the loss in person at the Circulation Desk or call the number at the top of the page. There is a $5 replacement fee for a lost card.
Your Rock Island Public Library card, in good standing, may be used at any library in the Praire Area Library System.www.palsnet.info/members/public/allpublic.asp

Resources You Can Use

Did you know? Your Rock Island Library offers much more than books (although we have more of those than almost anyone else.)

Here's a selection of all the great resources you may not know we have:

The area's widest selection of new fiction and non-fiction books. New titles arrive almost daily!

The area's largest selection of Large-Print books. Easy on the eyes!

Downloadable eAudiobooks to listen to on your MP3 player.

An Electronic NET Library with thousands of titles you can download unto your home computer. E-books are available anytime of the day or night, and there are never any late fines. E-books automatically delete from your system after the checkout period expires.

Unabridged Audio Books on CD - thousands of titles!

The latest consumer research information— to help you purchase a
new car, major appliances, research prescription medications and more.

Self contained “playaway” digital audio books you can take anywhere. Each book is smaller than a deck of cards - and there are never any CDs to switch. You supply the battery and headphones.

Hundreds of magazines, for every interest

Local, regional & national newspapers, to help you keep up with what’s happening.

Music CDs—check them out and try out new artists before you buy!

Television shows on DVD—catch up with the shows you've missed!

7-Day Entertainment DVDS - just $1 for hundreds of new, classic and independent films!

Educational DVDs —check out travel, fitness or PBS video for free.

Computer CD-ROMs for learning

Graphic (illustrated) novels

Multimedia kits for children and adults

Resources for the whole family—including great materials, programs and educational tools for your children. Check out our children's room at Main!

Newspapers on microfilm and other historical resources at the Main Library.

Book club kits for reading groups.

Special Parent-Teacher and homeschooling resources in our Main Library Children's Room

Book Club Kits Available for Check Out

Did you know that the Rock Island Library offers many book club kits with six-week checkouts? Each contains multiple copies of the book along with helpful discussion guides. It's an easy (and free) way to provide your group with convenient access to the book you'll be discussing. New kits are added all the time. We call it a book club in a box!

Check our catalog for updates, or call our Reference Desk at 309-732-7341 to reserve one. A member of our staff will pull the kit for you.

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (KIT FIC SMILEY)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (KIT FIC TWAIN)

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (KIT FIC WHARTON)

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (KIT FIC FAULKNER)

At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks (KIT FIC SPARKS)

Atonement by Ian McEwan (KIT FIC MCEWAN)

Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min (KIT FIC MIN)

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (KIT FIC PAT)

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (KIT FIC PLATH)

Beneath a Marble Sky: A Love Story by John Shors (kIT FIC SHORS)

The Bright Forever by Lee Martin (KIT FIC MARTIN)

Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat (KIT B DANTICAT)

Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber (KIT FIC ABE)

Don't Let Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller (KIT B FULLER)

Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (KIT FIC HEM)

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (KIT FIC ROB)

Girl wtih a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (KIT FIC CHE)

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (KIT FIC WALLS)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (KIT FIC BUCK)

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (KIT FIC STEINBECK)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (KIT FIC FIT)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (KIT FIC SHAFFER)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (KIT FIC ATW)

The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall (KIT FIC PAR)

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (KIT FIC BRONTE)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (KIT FIC LEE)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (KIT FIC HOS)

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (KIT B BEAH)

March: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks (KIT FIC BRO)

The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kin Edwards (KIT FIC EDW)

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles Shields (KIT 813.54 MOC)

Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust by Fern Schumer (KIT B CHAPMAN)

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (KIT FIC PICOULT)

The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty (KIT FIC WELTY)

Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America by Stephen G. Bloom (KIT 977.733 BLO)

Pumpkin Soup and Shrapnel by Gunda Davis (KIT B DAV)

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafasi (KIT FIC NAF)

The Shack by William Young (KIT FIC YOUNG)

The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music by Steve Lopez (KIT B AYERS)

The Songcatcher by Sharyn McCrumb (KIT FIC MCCRUMB)

Suite Francaise: A Novel by Irene Nemirovsky (KIT FIC NEM)

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (KIT B MCOURT)

The 13th Tale by Diane Setterfield (KIT FIC SET)

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (KIT FIC HOSSEINI)

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (KIT FIC SMI)

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (KIT FIC GRU)

The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss (KIT FIC LISS)