Circulation Services
How to get a library card
If you live in the City of Rock Island or in the Milan-Blackhawk Area Library District, you are eligible for a Rock Island Public Library card. If you aren't sure if your address is in our service area, please check our service area map at files/images/RI_Library_Service_Area.pdf or call 309-732-READ (7323).
- To receive your card, come to the Circulation Desk at any of our three locations, and fill out a short application. If you present two forms of identification with current address information, you may have the card the same day.If you have only one form of ID, we will mail you your card.
- You will receive both a wallet and keychain card. Each card is tied to the same account.
- A person must be five years old to get a library card. Children twelve and under must have a parent's or guardian's signature. Children 13 or older may apply for a library card without a parent's signature.
- Library cards are free when you first apply or when you renew. If your card is lost or stolen, contact the library immediately so your account can be made inactive. You are liable for checkouts made on your card. You may report the loss in person at the Circulation Desk or call the number at the top of the page. There is a $5 replacement fee for a lost card.
- Your Rock Island Public Library card, in good standing, may be used at any library in the RiverShare Libraries group,
- Your Rock Island Library card, in good standing, may also be used for walk-in borrowing and returning with local libraries who use the PrairieCat catalog and checkout system.
Good Reads
Thanks to support from the Rock Island Public Library Foundation,the Rock Island Public Library now subscribes to Bookletters, an exciting new service to help you decide what to read, watch or listen to next.
Click any of the covers below to read Bookletters online. Or click Good Reads in the menu bar at the top of this page to get news about books, audio and DVDs in your e-mail mailbox!
It All Starts With a Library Card!
Your access to thousands and thousands of free and low-cost resources at your Rock Island Library starts with a library card. Additionally, library cards allow you to benefit from other library services, such as free Internet access, downloadable eBooks and using web-based library services from home. Your library card is the smartest card in your wallet.
Rock Island Library is a member of the RiverShare Libraries group, a consortium of 20 public and academic libraries with 30 locations in in the Quad City area.
Here are four more great things about having a Library card:
1. You can use any library card from the RiverShare Libraries group to borrow items from the Rock Island Library. Patrons of PrairieCat Libraries can also borrow items from us through reciprocal borrowing, and you can borrow items in person at area PrairieCat library members. Online hold privileges are extended to RiverShare patrons only.
2. You can quickly and easily renew your books online and by phone.
3. You can sign up for free e-mail, phone or text reminders that let you know when books on hold are available - or when the item is coming due.
4. You can reserve library items from home for pick up at the library of your choice.
More stuff you should know:
Most items check out for three weeks, with a maximum of one renewal. Vacation checkouts and teacher checkouts of six weeks are available.
Some exceptions include 7-day DVDs, which are not renewable, and new (current issue) magazines, which must be read in the library. Back issue magazines check out for three weeks.
A person must be 5 years old to receive a library card. Cards for children ages 5 to 12 require a parent's signature for approval. Children 13 and older may apply for a library card on their own.
You're liable for materials checked out on your card, so call us immediately if your card is lost or stolen. You may also want to think twice before lending your library card to another, for the same reason.
Computer users must use their own card for Internet access. Use of another person's card or card number may result in loss of Internet privileges.
How to get a library card
How to get a library card
- If you live in the City of Rock Island
- To receive your card, come to the Circulation Desk at any of our three locations, and fill out a short application. If you present two forms of identification, you may have the card the same day.If you have only one form of ID , we will mail you your card. Children twelve and under must have a parent's or guardian's signature.
- Library cards are free when you first apply or when you renew. If your card is lost or stolen, contact the library immediately so your account can be made inactive. You are liable for checkouts made on your card. You may report the loss in person at the Circulation Desk or call the number at the top of the page. There is a $5 replacement fee for a lost card.
- As long as your Rock Island Library card remains in good standing (no excess fines, etc.), you may use it at any of the 30 library locations in the RiverShare Libraries group.
- RiverShare Libraries and Prairie Cat Libraries also offer limited reciprocal borrowing privileges to each others' patrons. This means you can check out or return items in person at a library using the PrairieCat catalog and PrairieCat patrons can check out items in person at libraries using the RiverShare catalog. Each system restricts online holds as a privilege for member cards.
Resources You Can Use
Did you know? Your Rock Island Library offers much more than books (although we have more of those than almost anyone else.)
Here's a selection of all the great resources you may not know we have:
The area's widest selection of new fiction and non-fiction books. New titles arrive almost daily!
The area's largest selection of Large-Print books. Easy on the eyes!
new car, major appliances, research prescription medications and more.
Hundreds of magazines, for every interest
Book Club Kits Available for Check Out
Did you know that the Rock Island Library offers many book club kits with six-week checkouts? Each contains multiple copies of the book along with helpful discussion guides. It's an easy (and free) way to provide your group with convenient access to the book you'll be discussing. New kits are added all the time. We call it a book club in a box!
Check our catalog for updates, or call our Reference Desk at 309-732-7341 to reserve one. A member of our staff will pull the kit for you.
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (KIT FIC SMILEY)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (KIT FIC TWAIN)
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (KIT FIC WHARTON)
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (KIT FIC FAULKNER)
At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks (KIT FIC SPARKS)
Atonement by Ian McEwan (KIT FIC MCEWAN)
Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min (KIT FIC MIN)
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (KIT FIC PAT)
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (KIT FIC PLATH)
Beneath a Marble Sky: A Love Story by John Shors (kIT FIC SHORS)
The Bright Forever by Lee Martin (KIT FIC MARTIN)
Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat (KIT B DANTICAT)
Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber (KIT FIC ABE)
Don't Let Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller (KIT B FULLER)
Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (KIT FIC HEM)
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (KIT FIC ROB)
Girl wtih a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (KIT FIC CHE)
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (KIT FIC WALLS)
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (KIT FIC BUCK)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (KIT FIC STEINBECK)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (KIT FIC FIT)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (KIT FIC SHAFFER)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (KIT FIC ATW)
The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall (KIT FIC PAR)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (KIT FIC BRONTE)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (KIT FIC LEE)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (KIT FIC HOS)
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (KIT B BEAH)
March: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks (KIT FIC BRO)
The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kin Edwards (KIT FIC EDW)
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles Shields (KIT 813.54 MOC)
Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust by Fern Schumer (KIT B CHAPMAN)
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (KIT FIC PICOULT)
The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty (KIT FIC WELTY)
Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America by Stephen G. Bloom (KIT 977.733 BLO)
Pumpkin Soup and Shrapnel by Gunda Davis (KIT B DAV)
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafasi (KIT FIC NAF)
The Shack by William Young (KIT FIC YOUNG)
The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music by Steve Lopez (KIT B AYERS)
The Songcatcher by Sharyn McCrumb (KIT FIC MCCRUMB)
Suite Francaise: A Novel by Irene Nemirovsky (KIT FIC NEM)
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (KIT B MCOURT)
The 13th Tale by Diane Setterfield (KIT FIC SET)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (KIT FIC HOSSEINI)
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (KIT FIC SMI)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (KIT FIC GRU)
The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss (KIT FIC LISS)
RiverShare Libraries
The Rock Island Public Library is a member of the RiverShare Libraries group, which share a common catalog and checkout system. The following members have agreed to share materials and extend full privileges to cardholders in good standing of RiverShare member libraries. There are 30 locations in the RIverShare group.
We can also request materials for our patrons from other libraries through the InterLibrary Loan system. The OCLC catalog provides our library with access to millions of other library materials in Illinois and the continental United States. So, if there's something you're looking for, please contact our Reference staff at the Main Library or at (309) 732-7341.
We also accept cards from libraries who use the PrairieCat catalog and SIRSI check-out system. These cardholders have reciprocal borrowing privileges.
If there are materials you would like us to add to our collection, please let us know. Just use the Contact Us menu on this website, and select "request for books or other items" from the "I have a" drop-down menu.