Ask Us: Borrowing

If we have purchased the book and it can be found in the catalog, you will be able to place a hold through the catalog as you would any other item. Since in some cases we have not yet received copies from the vendor, it may take some time for the hold to become available.

For information about searching and placing holds, see our Catalog FAQ page.

If you don't see it in the catalog, we may not have ordered it yet. You can use the Suggest a Purchase form to request that we purchase this title. 

You can also set up Notify Me tags in Libby to be notified when the library adds a title to its Libby collection.

When searching a library in Libby, you may discover titles that aren't in their collection. These titles will have a Notify Me button (instead of Borrow or Place Hold). Selecting Notify Me sets up a smart tag in Libby that will alert you if one of your libraries purchases the title at a later date.

Here's how it works in the app:

1. Search for a specific title, author, or series.
   
2. If you see the title you're interested in, and it has a Notify Me button, skip to step 5.
   
   If you don't see the title you're looking for in the search results:
   • If there are fewer than 100 results, tap  and continue to step 3.
     
   • If there are more than 100 results, try a more specific search (like the book's full title and the author's name).
     Note: Some books have never been published digitally, and some digital titles may not be available for purchase by your library.
3. Near the bottom of the panel with filter options, select deep search. This filter adds titles that match your search query and are not in your library's catalog to your search results.
   
4. Tap Show Titles.
   Note: If any titles are offered by your other saved libraries, you'll see the option to borrow or place them on hold right away.
5. Tap Notify Me. The first time you tap this button, you'll be walked through a quick tutorial to set up a Notify Me smart tag (or prompted to use one you've already set up).
   
6. In the tutorial, select Manage Notifications, then select a notification option for Notify Me:Title.
   

If the Public Library purchases the title, you'll be notified and have the option to borrow or place the title on hold (depending on its availability).