The video walks you through this process, but just so you have the links handy, you can request a library card on our website. Once you have a card, go to our catalog and log in to get started. There you can look at Your Account where you can see what books you have checked out, manage your holds, and more. You are then ready to start searching for and requesting books.
As you’re searching, if you find a book we don't own, you’ll be able to request it from another library. The State Library is part of the CWMARS consortium, so our catalog will display books owned by our library and by other CWMARS libraries. We’ll learn more about the CWMARS consortium in a future blog post, so stay tuned!
Turning back to searching our catalog, let’s walk through an example. Take this keyword search for “William Bradford.” You’ll see that CWMARS libraries own 409 items total about William Bradford, while the State Library owns 156. You can click on those four tabs along the top to limit your search results. If the State Library doesn’t own a book you’re looking for, you won’t see a tab for our library in your search results.
If you do find a book you’re interested in and we don’t own it, log into your library account, find it in our catalog, click on “Place Hold,” and fill out the very brief request form. That’s it! The book will then be delivered right to the State Library and you’ll get an email letting you know when it has arrived. You can pick up requested books during our open hours (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm).
This video makes learning how to use your library card quick and easy, but if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Reference.Department@mass.gov or 617-727-2590.
Jessica Shrey
Legal Research Reference Librarian
This video makes learning how to use your library card quick and easy, but if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Reference.Department@mass.gov or 617-727-2590.
Jessica Shrey
Legal Research Reference Librarian
