In August we made the move to allow Library by Mail guests to place holds on material in branch BM. However, we realized BM guests only had access to a small portion of the Outreach collection at the Service Center. Currently, Outreach consists of three branch collections: Book Centers (BC), Books by Mail (BM), and Outreach (OR). 

Effective October 31, 2023, we are moving forward to combine the branches in CARL: Books by Mail (BM) and Book Centers (BC) into Outreach (OR). Library by Mail guests will be updated to have branch OR (Outreach) as their patron type. This will allow all Library by Mail guests to have access to all material in Outreach.  

Aspen Pick Up Branch 

Only OR guests can place holds on OR material. Additionally, with the move to Aspen, we have enabled the ability for OR guests (aka Library by Mail) to place holds on material to be sent to OR for staff to process. While the branch will be “Outreach” in CARL, in Aspen, it will be displayed as Library by Mail as that is the name of the service. 

Library by Mail Eligibility 

As a reminder, any homebound Primary account is eligible for Library by Mail. If staff have conversations about Library by Mail with a guest, they can change their branch to OR and account type to Outreach. Please notify Outreach staff so they are aware they have a new guest using Library by Mail.  

Most of you will see no changes, but we wanted to share the hope we have that these changes will provide a better experience for Library by Mail guests having full access to the Outreach collection.