I wanted to reach out to you today to let you know that we are beginning a new phase of our reopening plan with our drive up service this week. You will now be able to request books and movies either online or over the phone and then be able to schedule a time to have them brought out to you in your car at the library. We are so excited to start this service. We have missed seeing you during this trying time.
While we would love to go back to normal and reopen the doors of the library to the public, we do not feel it is safe for our patrons or our staff to do that yet. We continue to rely on local public health and safety guidance as we make our decisions. We have put in place many safety protocols to make the drive up service safe and successful.
We are taking this all day by day and week by week and as it becomes safer to do so we will begin the next phase of the reopening process. Until then, in addition to the drive up service, you can access many online services including ebooks, audio books, digital magazines, language learning, children’s learning and research databases by going to our website www.ottumwapubliclibrary.org
Thank you for your patience as we figure out these next stages.
Sincerely,
Sonja Ferrell, Director
641-682-7563 ext 202
sferrell@ottumwapubliclibrary.org
Here’s how the drive up process will work:
- You request materials
- Specific titles – place your own holds through your account on our catalog at https://catalog.ottumwapubliclibrary.org ; or call us at 641-682-7563 for help placing the holds. (There is a tutorial video on our website to help with this process.)
- Age-level/topic requests – call to ask library staff to choose a certain number of materials for you.
- Wait for a call to confirm your request is ready and to schedule your pick up. You will pick a one hour window of time to pick your materials up.
- When you arrive at the library drive up location (4th St & alley behind library), please call us at 641-682-7563 and give us your name. If you have no way to do this, please notify us when you are on your way to the library.
- We will bring your bagged materials out to you once we know you are there. Please open your trunk or back door to allow for a no-contact placement of your request. Please respect social distancing protocols during this time and know that we are protecting each other by honoring those. Do not roll down your window or offer to grab the bags.
- Return any materials to our book drop and do not hand them directly to staff.
Ottumwa Public Library Drive Up Hours
Monday- Saturday 9 am-12pm & 2-5 pm