How to Reserve Books from the Library

If you've never reserved a book online through the Pima County Public Library system before or are confused about how to do it, these instructions are for you! I hope they are clear and helpful. I also added pictures of all of the steps for you visual learners (like me!) (Click on the pictures to make them larger).

Before you can reserve books you must have a library card and pin #. Instructions on how to get a card (your first one is free!) can be found here.

1. Visit the Pima County Public Library's website (http://www.library.pima.gov/)

2. Log in to your account (click "My Account" in the upper right hand corner of the screen)

3. Search for the book by title, author, etc.


4. Click on the book/item you want to reserve.


5. Click "Reserve This" under the picture of the book on the right hand side.


6. Choose which library branch you would like to have your book sent to (The Nanini branch is the one located on Shannon Road)

7. To check the status of your hold (see what # you are), click on "View My Account" at the top of the screen (in the green menu area). Then click on "Holds" (they don't always show up immediately so you may need to click "update list" a few times)


8. When your book has arrived for you, you will notified via phone, email or mail--whatever method you have specified with the library. If you don't know what you have specified, you can check by clicking on "Modify Personal Info" in "My Account" and change/update as necessary.


9. At the Nanini Library Branch (I'm not sure about the others, but I imagine it's similar) the reserved books are on bookshelves towards the front, left hand side of the library. The reserved books are organized alphabetically by last name. Then you check out your book(s) and you're good to go!

An extra tip for reserving books: Sometimes there are large print versions and audio cd's of the book if you are interested! If these are available, you'll see these listed when you search for the book. This sometimes lets you to get your hands on a book (or audio version of the book) a little bit faster if there is a long waiting list.