Uncover the Treasures of Other Libraries

"One does not simply walk into Mordor," Boromir says—but don’t listen to him. He’s a real pessimist. The truth of the matter is that you can simply walk into the Mordor Public Library*, or any other library, and gain access to their treasures as long as they are part of our reciprocal borrowing network.

To unlock next level borrowing, you must first equip yourself with two essential items.

• Your Canton Public Library card, and
• Your photo I.D.

Here’s how to do it.

Our website doesn’t interact with other libraries in our reciprocal network, therefore they will have no record of you. To meet this challenge, your first stop when you arrive at a new-to-you library in the network is their main desk. Let staff know you’re from a different library and you’d like to be entered into their system so you can check out materials. They’ll ask to see your I.D. before they let you pass.

Knowledge is the ultimate treasure. When you arrive, you’ll want to ask some questions about the items you plan on checking out, because that library’s policies might be different than our own. Don’t fall into the quicksand by assuming.

Bonus tip: You can return the items you check out from another library directly to them, or you can drop off the materials with us. We won’t be able to check them in right away, but we can drop the items in with our deliveries. When the other library receives the items, they’ll check them in just like they would if you returned them directly.

Don’t feel like travelling to far-flung lands? You can always task the heroes of the MeLCat program with delivering your treasures to CPL. Just speak with a librarian or go to the MeLCat website. Items requested through MeLCat usually arrive at our library within 7-10 days and have a slightly longer borrowing period. We'll let you know when your item arrives.

Go forth and build your dragon’s hoard! Just don’t forget to return items on time.

*Sadly, Mordor is not in our network (although we bet they’d have some interesting books!).