501-918-3025
calsfoundation@cals.org
calsfoundation@cals.org
Curbside Service to the Rescue!
Get Print Books, DVDs, and Free Mobile Printing with No-Contact Pickup
We may be closed to the public right now, but there are still book elves flitting around inside some of our branches. They can pick up library materials for you and deliver them to the curb for a no-contact pickup at our branch libraries.
If you put items on hold before the libraries closed, you can now pick them up! Or, you can call or email the branch library to ask for “concierge service,” which means that the library will check for you to see if the item you want is available, then put it on hold for you. You then drive to that library branch and call the phone number on the sign outside. A few minutes later, the library elves will tell you that your materials are waiting for you. You walk down the sidewalk and poof! Your books or DVDS will have magically appeared in front of the library.
OK, not really. Our hardworking staff is inside pulling your holds from the hold shelf and setting them outside. But they are so quick that it looks like magic.
Last Friday, we hung out at a safe distance from the entrance of the CALS Terry Library to watch pickups and talk to some patrons who were enjoying the spring sunshine. They were pretty happy about being able to check out materials even though the branches are closed to visitors.
“This is the first time I’ve picked up a book at the curb, and I am thrilled! I had just finished my book and needed a new one,” said Melinda.
Patron George was pleased to get his order. “Oh, it’s great! I had put several books on hold before all of this started, and I’m a print book person.”
Jean too was there to pick up some holds she had requested before social distancing began. “I appreciate this, because I had holds and didn’t know when I could get them,” she said.
Bethany said she was picking up a DVD called Blue Bloods for her parents, while Laurie was excited to get a new J.D. Robb novel.
Olivia told us she was happy to be checking out “a bunch of Studio Ghibli movies.”
Finally, Cindy came with her pup Milagro and spent some time chatting with us in the bright spring sunshine. “It is a relief to be able to get books again!” she said. “We spent twelve days in Israel and got back just under the wire, in late February. Now I checked out a book with pictures of Israel so I can look at pictures of the places I’ve been.”
Whether you want to take your own trip through a travel book or binge-watch a series that you can’t get through a streaming service, you too can request curbside pickups from our collection. You can also request mobile printing, and right now, the first ten pages of your mobile printing job will be free! No payments accepted online; additional pages may be negotiable by calling the branch library.
Curbside service is available at fourteen library branches, Monday through Saturday from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Find contact information and more details about how to request curbside service here.
As always, for those who want digital items, there are hundreds of thousands of e-books, audiobooks, movies, TV shows, musical recordings, and e-magazines in our digital collection.
To learn more about our digital collection or our virtual programming while the library is closed, visit cals.org.
