Renew library books after-hours by phone

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Submitted by the San Juan Library

Ever been heading on vacation and wished you could renew your holiday reading but had to catch the red-eye, your laptop is packed and the library isn’t open? Well, now you can conveniently renew items by phone, even when the San Juan Island Library is closed. Telephony is the library’s automated telephone circulation system. Call this number for information about your library account 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You’ll need your library barcode number and a touchtone phone. The number is 378-0389.

Telephony lets you:

Hear a list of materials you have checked out.

Hear a list of materials that are overdue.

Renew materials, if they are eligible for renewal.

List or cancel materials you have holds on.

Hear your total account balance and any charges

Telephony will call you, if you receive phone notifications, to:

Tell you an item you put on hold is available for pickup.

Remind you about overdue materials.

Currently, we send overdue messages by mail to those who don’t have email notifications. This entails a large number of printed notices and a substantial mailing cost. Telephony will cut down those costs.

Staff calls many patrons to alert them of held items waiting for pick up. Telephony will free up this staff time to work on other tasks.

Telephony allows you to access your account information at any time of the day or night.

If you currently have the phone as your preferred method of notification and do not want to receive any automated calls from the library, call or drop by the library to change your notification preference from phone to email.

As always, library staff are happy to help you with account information in person or by phone at 378-2798 during open hours.

So why not try Telephony — it’s free, easy and convenient!