Otsego District Public Library

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Announcements

VOX Books – New Children’s Collection

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Families can sponsor a VOX™ Book for a $40 donation and have their name added to the nameplate of the title they sponsor! You can pick a VOX ™Book from our wish-list or have the library pick a title for you. Ask a library staff member for more details on becoming a VOX ™ Book Sponsor!

What are VOX ™ Books?
Introducing VOX ™ Books, now available at the Otsego District Public Library. VOX ™Books enable children to listen to an audio recording directly from a printed book – no computer, no tablet, no phone.  The books have an audio reader attached to the front cover of the book,  controlled by a push button, which allows your child to listen and read along.  VOX ™readers are a simple yet powerful literacy tool that children love.  Just push a button and listen!

VOX ™ Books combine outstanding picture books and non-fiction with audio recordings that capture children’s attention and make learning and literacy development fun. Studies have shown that VOX ™Books users improve their reading comprehension by 75% and improve their reading accuracy by over 50%.

Search “VOX” in our online catalog to check out this awesome new collection!

End of Materials Check-in Quarantine

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Otsego District Library Materials Check-in Quarantine Ends May 1st!

Notice to patrons: Due to recent data from the CDC, starting May 3, checked in items at Otsego District Library will no longer sit in the back for one week before returning to the shelves. Your items will be checked in the same day they are returned. This will get our items back to the shelves faster/out fulfilling some of our longer holds waitlists more quickly.

The new CDC data says that risk of surface spread is less than 1 in 10,000. We continue to encourage patrons to use good hygiene and wash their hands before/after visiting the library.

More details can be found HERE in the CDC briefing papers.

Used Book Donations To Begin Again!

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Otsego District Library Begins Receiving Used Book Donations May 1st!

The Friends of the Library Used Bookstore has reopened and is fully stocked with great titles. Come visit soon! We will begin accepting used book donations again on May 1st.

We ask that you only bring in what you can carry/move yourself on a cart. The staff are not available to help move donations at this time. The Friends will not be having any giant book sales currently but rather only operating the store and sorting books for the library to sell on Amazon & ThriftBooks.

Because we have limited volunteer help, in order to spread out the donations this spring, please wait until the listed week to bring in your donations:
Last Names A-G Week of May 3
Last Names H-N Week of May 10
Last Names O-T Week of May 17
Last U-Z Week of May 24
Or throughout the summer.

Signup to volunteer to be a Friend of the Library and help sort books in our bookstore at the library’s circulation desk!

The Friends’ Book Store has Re-Opened!

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Twice Told Tales – Friends of the Library Used Bookstore is once again open for shopping! The book Store has re-opened and is fully stocked. Please maintain six feet social distance while shopping. The book store accepts cash and check only – please pay at the circulation desk.

We are NOT accepting donations yet but WILL be soon. Check back in a few weeks when our Friends Volunteers return to action. Please wait until then to donate because they will be handling the donations – our staff is handling check-in book quarantines currently, so we do need the Friends help before starting up accepting donations again.

Interested in volunteering with our Friends and helping sort donations in our bookstore? Please let us know at the circulation desk! We will give you a volunteer form to fill out and the Friends will contact you.

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*SAME DAY* After Hours Pickup Lockers!

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The Otsego District Public Library is pleased to announce our SAME DAY After Hours Pickup Lockers! These new lockers are brought to us by the library’s Irene Galloway Endowment Fund at the Allegan County Community Foundation.

If you are interested in contributing to the library’s endowment fund to help grow the ongoing legacy and long-term growth of our library, contact the ACCF or Otsego District Public Library. The library is able to do a special project each year in thanks to the payout from this fund, which currently ranges from $40 – $600 a year but as our fund grows we may be able to do bigger projects each year.

Process for using our new SAME DAY After Hours pickups lockers:
                        • Put your items on hold in our card catalog.
                        • Call the library to schedule your **same day** pickup. This means you will pick up your items before the library opens the next morning, but after the library closes for the evening. You can also schedule Saturday for a weekend pickup.
                        • The library will check your items out to you. When your items are ready you will receive an email with your four letter lock code and locker number to come pickup your items.
                        • Come pick up your items at your convenience in the evening after we close or morning before we open. Please relock the lock before you leave.
The lockers are located at the library’s front entrance which is lit and under 24-7 camera surveillance. All locks and door handles will be disinfected between uses. Enjoy our new Same Day After Hours Pickup system!

Holiday Hours

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The library will have adjusted hours for the up and coming holiday. Please note that the week after Christmas the library skylights are being replaced and will be offering Drive-Thru Pickup ONLY services on those days.

Christmas December 24 – 26
CLOSED

December 28 – 31
CURBSIDE ONLY*
*This may change if skylight repairs finish early

New Year’s Eve December 31
CLOSING AT 3 PM

New Year’s Day January 1
CLOSED

Have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends!

Expanded Service Hours

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STARTING MONDAY, SEP 28, we are expanding our service hours.

Building Open:
Monday – Friday 10 AM – 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM – 3 PM

Drive-Thru Window Available via Call-In:
Monday – Friday 10 AM – 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM – 3 PM (Window closed Noon-1 for lunch – building remains open at lunch)

The drive-thru holds pickup window will no longer be staffed continuously as we expand our service hours, but rather will switch over to a call-in model.

We will ask that patrons call the library from their cell phone when they arrive at the window. If you do not have a cell phone, you can call ahead from home before you leave for the library and schedule a pickup time.

If you do not have a cell phone and were not able to call ahead from home, there will also be a doorbell at the window that can be rung and staff will come to get your items. Calling us from the window or calling ahead is the easiest for staff and quickest for you because the staff can grab your items when you call and come to the window with them.

Holds can also now be picked up at the circulation desk inside the building.

Director’s Service Update

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Expanded Service Hours Coming Soon – September 28!

The Otsego District Library Staff would like to thank you for all the positive encouragement in the past several months as the library has navigated the unprecedented process of reopening to the public during the Covid Pandemic. We have heard many great things about our drive-up window, and others are happy to be utilizing the building again since mid-July. We hope you will use the library in whichever way you feel safest.

As a public space we cannot guarantee all surfaces are sanitized at all times, but our staff does continue to work to sanitize throughout the day, especially in high touch point areas and the computers in between uses. We appreciate the community’s willingness to use the library while wearing a mask, social distancing, using good hygiene when visiting the library, and not coming to the library sick. We would like to thank you, we have had very few issues so far and we appreciate that!

We currently continue to quarantine items upon return. When you put your returns in the outdoor book drop, they are sent to the program room where they remain for a week before being checked in and re-shelved into the collection.

Today we have **exciting** news to announce. We will be expanding our service hours to 10-6 on Mondays-Fridays, 10-3 Saturdays, starting Monday, September 28, for both the building and the drive-up window. This adds an additional 4 hours of access to both the window and the facility on every weekday. The change starting Sep. 28 with the drive-up window will be that the window will transition to a call-in model. (You will call the library when you arrive at the window). At this time, our study rooms and Michigan History Room will also be available for public use by request and sanitized between uses. Building capacity limits will stay in place and the Friends Bookstore, Teen Room, and Early Literacy Center will stay temporarily closed.

We hope you had a chance to check out our Fall Newsletter https://otsegolibrary.org/newsletter/ and all the creative new services and virtual programs we are offering. A popular new service is our Book Packs to Go! https://otsegolibrary.org/bookpacks/ We are also eagerly preparing Rising Reader Activity Kits (thanks in part to the memorial donation of Albert Hoekstra!) for parents to work with their children on vital literacy skills – keep an eye out for those to start appearing later this fall and early winter in the children’s area! Our awesome staff continues to think of creative and adaptive ways to serve you at this time.

We hope you will remember your library is **Here For You!**

Have a great weekend!

Andrea Estelle, Library Director
Otsego District Library