|
General Questions
How do I get a Library Card?
See our Borrowing Guidelines.
Do I
have to return items to the same location I checked them out
from?
No. You may return items to any RCPL location.
What if I
want a book or magazine article that the library doesn't have?
If RCPL does not own the book you need, the Library may be
able to borrow it from another library. Interlibrary Loan
is offered at the General Reference Desk (929-3400) at the
Main Library to any patron 18 years or older who has a valid
RCPL card. You can also request that we buy the book you need.
All you need to do is come in and fill out a Request for Purchase. The form will ask for
the title and author information as well as for your name,
telephone number and library barcode number. Once the request
has been reviewed, you'll get an email or postcard that says either
we are not purchasing the item (and why), or we are purchasing
the item. If we purchase the item, it will automatically be
placed on hold for for you and you will be notified when it
arrives. Please complete this form only for titles which
have already been published and only for authors the library does not buy consistently. Check with your branch if you have questions about what
you may request.
When is
the library open?
See the Main Library page. For branch
location hours, see the individual branch page.
Can
I still get a library card if I am not a resident of Richland
County?
Yes, however there is a $65 per year charge for non-residents.
Does
the library offer computers for word processing and internet
access? What about typewriters?
Yes. The Main Library and all branch locations offer
computers for public access. However, the number of computers
available for word processing is limited. Please contact your
local branch or the Main Library for availability, sign-up
and policy information. The library system no longer offers typewriters.
How
do I donate my old books to the library?
Books donated to the library generally are given to the Friends
of the Richland County Public Library for their community
book sales. Money raised from the sales is then used for the
benefit of the Library in many ways. Some books are selected
for the library collection if they are needed and meet all
selection policy guidelines for any materials owned by the
library. Books in good condition may be left at any RCPL location
during that location's opening hours. At this time, the Friends
do not take old textbooks or National
Geographic Magazine issues. Donations are gratefully
received by the Library and the Friends of the Library.
Back to the Top
Using the Web-access
catalog
What's my Borrower ID?
Your Borrower ID is the 14 digit number underneath the barcode
on your library card. When inputting your barcode number,
you must include all 14 digits with no spaces (e.g. 20080001234567,
not 2 0080 00123 4567).
How do I get
a PIN?
Your PIN is automatically assigned as the last four digits
of your home telephone number. If your home phone number has
changed, please contact your local
branch or the the Main Library Circulation Desk to update
your phone number.
How
do I access my account?
Your account is accessible from every page of the main Web
site by clicking on "My Account". Patron accounts
are part of the online catalog, so you can also click on the
"Catalog" link to enter the catalog and then click
on the "My Account" tab. Once you've accessed "My
Account," log in by entering your library barcode number
(all 14 digits with no spaces) and your PIN (the last four
digits of your home telephone number). From the "My Account"
page, you can review your checked-out items and holds, delete
hold requests, and renew items.
How do I
place a hold on an item?
To place a hold (request) on books, videos, CDs, etc., you
must first find the specific title in our online catalog.
Once you have found the title, bring up the full Bibliographic
Record for that individual title (you cannot place a hold
from a list of titles or authors). Then, click the "Request
Item" button on the right side of the page. If you're
not logged into "My Account," a login page will
appear where you must enter your 14 digit library card number
and PIN (the last four digits of your home telephone number).
Once you've logged in, a "Request Confirmation"
screen will appear and you must choose the location where
you wish to pick up the item when it becomes available. Then
click on the "Request" button.
How
do I update my address, telephone number, and/or email address?
Please contact your local branch or
the the Main Library Circulation Desk to update account information.
How can
I renew items online?
You can renew items through the "My Account" section
of the online catalog. From the catalog, click on the button
labeled "My Account." From anywhere else in the
Web site, click on the "My Account" button. A log-in
screen will appear. Once you've entered your barcode (all
14 digits with no spaces) and PIN (the last four digits of
your home telephone number), an "Account Overview"
screen will appear giving you some basic information. Above
the "Account Overview" banner are five options:
Overview, Checked out, Holds, Fines/Blocks and Profile. Click
on "Checked Out" and the "Items Out" page
will appear showing the items currently checked out to your
account. There is a little check box just to the left of each
title. Click your mouse in the check box next to the item
you wish to renew and click the "Renew" button.
A message will appear at the top of the screen to let you
know whether the item renewed or not. If it didn't renew,
there will be a second message just above the title of that
item explaining why it did not renew.
I
tried to place an item on hold, but I keep getting an error
message.
I tried to access my account, but I got
an error message that says "patron not found."
There are a number of reasons why you might get an error message,
however, the three most common problems are as follows:
- Make sure you input your barcode number with no spaces
(e.g. 20080001234567, not 2 0080 00123 4567).
- If your phone number has recently changed, we might not
have the new number in our records. Since your PIN is the
last four digits of your current phone number, this could
result in an error message such as "patron
not found". If your phone number has changed
and you suspect that our information is incorrect, please
contact your local branch or the
the Main Library Circulation Desk to update your phone number.
- In order to be able to place holds, you must use an Internet
browser that supports JavaScript. For the two most popular
browsers, Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator, this
means using version 4.0 or above. If your browser does not
support JavaScript, you will receive error messages such
as "item status not requestable" or "patron
not found."
I
tried to renew my books online and could not. Is there any
other way to renew?
Yes. If you are unable to renew items in person or online
through the Web catalog, you can contact
your local branch or the Main Library Circulation Desk. Additionally,
you can access your account and renew items through our TeleMessaging
system which is available 24 hours a day. The numbers for
TeleMessaging are 929-3425 and 929-3427.
Back to the Top
Accessing RCPL databases
from home
What's my Borrower
ID?
Your Borrower ID is the 14 digit number underneath the barcode
on your library card. When inputting your barcode number,
you must include all 14 digits with no spaces (e.g. 20080001234567,
not 2 0080 00123 4567).
How do I
get a PIN?
Your PIN is automatically assigned as the last four digits
of your home telephone number. If your home phone number has
changed, please contact your local
branch or the the Main Library Circulation Desk to update
your phone number.
I
cannot access a database.
Please try the following:
- Verify your barcode and PIN. Your barcode should have
14 digits and should be entered with no spaces between the
numbers (e.g. 20080001234567, not 2 0080 00123 4567). Your
PIN is automatically assigned as the last four digits of
your home telephone number. To update or verify your PIN,
please contact your local branch
or the Main Library Circulation Desk. Although the "My
Account" component is not related to database access,
you can verify your barcode and pin by logging into your
account. If you successfully log in, you will see your name
in the top right corner. If you are unable to log in, please
contact your local branch or the
Main Library Circulation Desk to confirm or reset your PIN.
- Verify that you are using Internet Explorer 6 or higher
or Netscape Navigator 6 or higher. The AOL browser will
not work with some of our databases. In order to access
some of our databases, you must use an Internet browser
that supports JavaScript. For the two most popular browsers,
Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator, this means
using version 4.0 or above. If your browser does not support
JavaScript, you may receive error messages such "patron
not found."
- Verify that cookies are enabled on your computer. How
do I do this?
- Clear cookies from your computer. How
do I do this?
- Clear temporary Internet files (cache) from your computer.
How do I do this?
- Internet and Windows firewalls will block access to some
databases. Therefore, you may need to adjust your settings
to allow access or temporarily turn them off. Windows XP
firewall settings can be viewed by clicking Start > Settings
> Control Panel > Windows Firewall. If you have Norton
Internet Security, please be sure to set your "Security"
and "Personal Firewall" to "off."
Remember to restore your settings when you are finished.
How
do I enable cookies from my computer in order to access the
databases?
The authentication program we use for remote access to our
databases requires cookies in order to work properly. Additionally,
many of the databases themselves require cookies in order
to allow you access. If you have your cookies disabled, or
if the cookie is corrupted, you will not be able to access
the databases: you might see an invalid authorization notice
or a message that says "welcome to [[null]]." If
you are not sure what cookies are, you can get more information
from the Unofficial
Cookie FAQ.
These instructions assume that you are using the most recent
versions of Netscape Navigator/Communicator or Microsoft's
Internet Explorer as your Internet browser. If you are using
the built-in Internet browser in America Online, Compuserv,
or another ISP, we suggest that you download and use a separate
copy of another browser such as Internet
Explorer or Netscape
Navigator.
In Internet Explorer 6.x, choose
the "Tools" pull-down menu and select "Internet
Options.",The Internet Options dialog box will open with
the "General" tab showing. Choose the "Privacy"
tab at the top of the window. Then, use the sliding bar to
change your privacy settings to "low" or "accept
all cookies." You may be able to use the "medium"
or "medium high" settings, but some databases (specifically
Reference USA) may require a lower setting. When you've changed
the setting, click OK.
In Netscape Communicator 6.x or 7x,
choose the "Edit" pull-down menu and select "Preferences."
The preferences window will open. Choose the "privacy
and security" option from the list on the left and double-click
it. A sub-menu will appear below. Click on the "cookies"
label to display those options on the right side of the window.
Click on one of the "enable cookies" options. If
you're not sure which one to choose, then choose the "enable
all cookies" option.
If cookies are enabled, but Remote Patron Authentication
(RPA) still doesn't work, try deleting all cookies and then
trying again. We have found that many times the cookie that
RPA leaves on your hard drive can become corrrupted.
How
do I clear cookies from my computer in order to access the
databases?
These instructions assume that you are using the most
recent versions of Netscape Navigator/Communicator or Microsoft's
Internet Explorer as your Internet browser. If you are using
the built-in Internet browser in America Online, Compuserv,
or another ISP, we suggest that you download and use a separate
copy of another browser such as Internet
Explorer or Netscape
Navigator.
In Internet Explorer 6.x, choose
the "Tools" pull-down menu and select "Internet
Options," The "Internet Options" dialog box
will open with the "General" tab showing. Mid-way
down the box, you'll see a heading labeled "Temporary
Internet Files" with three buttons labeled "Delete
Cookies", "Delete Files" and "Settings."
Click on the "Delete Cookies" button. A confirmation
box will appear that says "Delete all cookies in the
Temporary Interenet Files folder?" Click OK.
In Netscape Communicator 6.x or 7x,
choose the "Edit" pull-down menu and select "Preferences."
The preferences window will open. Choose the "Privacy
and Security" option from the list on the left and double-click
it. A sub-menu will appear below. Click on the "Cookies"
label to display those options on the right side of the window.
Click on the button labeled "Manage Stored Cookies"
("View Stored Cookies" in Netscape 6.x). The Cookie
Manager/Viewer window will appear. Click on the button labeled
"Remove all Cookies." Then click OK to close the
Cookie Manager and then click OK again to close the Preferences
window. Close the browser and then re-open it. You should
now be able to access the databases.
How do
I clear the temporary Internet files (cache) from my computer
in order to access the databases?
Once you've cleared the cookies from your browser, you may
also need to clear your temporary Internet files to ensure
that your browser is pulling a fresh copy of the Web page,
and not an old copy that's stored on your hard drive. Every
Internet browser keeps copies of the Web pages you visit in
its memory (or cache). This facilitates a quicker download
when you re-visit that page. Clearing the cache forces the
browser to actually re-visit the server and get a fresh copy
of a particular Web page, rather than using the cached copy.
These instructions assume that you are using the most recent
versions of Netscape Navigator/Communicator
or Microsoft's Internet Explorer
as your Internet browser. If you are using the built-in Internet
browser in America Online, Compuserv,
or another ISP, we suggest that you download and use a separate
copy of another browser such as Internet
Explorer or Netscape
Navigator. If you are using an older version of Netscape
Navigator/Communicator or Internet
Explorer, you can find instructions for your particular
version here.
For Internet Explorer (version
6.x and above), you can clear the cache by choosing the Tools
pull-down menu (the View pull-down menu in version 4.0) and
choosing "Internet Options." Under the General tab,
click the "Delete Files" button under the heading
"Temporary Internet Files," then click OK. Close
the browser and then re-open it. For Netscape
(version 6.x and 7.x) you can clear the cache by choosing
the "Edit" pull-down menu, and choosing "Preferences."
In the left side of the new window that appears, double-click
on "Privacy and Security," and then choose "Cache"
from the sub-menu that appears. Then, on the right side of
the screen, click on the button labeled "Clear Memory
Cache" and click OK. Then click on the button labeled
"Clear Disk Cache" and click OK. Click OK to close
the preferences window. Close and re-open the browser.
Your
system authenticated me, but then the Web page I ended up
on is still asking for a user name and password.
Internet and Windows firewalls will block access to
some databases. Therefore, you may need to adjust your settings
to allow access or temporarily turn them off. Windows XP firewall
settings can be viewed by clicking Start > Settings >
Control Panel > Windows Firewall. If you have Norton Internet
Security, please be sure to set your "Security"
and "Personal Firewall" to "off."
Remember to restore your settings when you are finished.
If you've already been authenticated by our system, then
there may be a problem with the database itself. You can wait
a while and try again, or contact
our Technology Department. We can contact the vendor to
find out whether there is a problem.
Back to the Top
|
