Placing a hold reserves a copy of the item with the soonest availability, although some items have longer hold lists/waiting time than others. Our 30-library consortium’s resource-sharing model allows a hold to be placed on most items, to be picked up at the library of your choice when it becomes available.
Holds may be placed:
- By Phone. To place a hold on a library item over the phone, call Prosser Library at 860-243-9721, or McMahon Wintonbury Library at 860-242-0041.
- In-Person. You may place a hold on a library item in-person at either library location.
- Online. You may place an item on hold yourself through the online library catalog. You must log into your online library account to place the hold. Click the Log In button in the upper right corner. PINs from the old system have not been transferred, so you must set a new password for your online library account. Choose “Reset Password,” enter your library card number, and follow the prompts. You must have an email address on file with the library in order to reset your password using this method. Otherwise, please ask a staff member for assistance.
Borrowing from Other Libraries
You can borrow items in-person from any public library in Connecticut using your public library card.
Bloomfield Public Library is a member of Library Connection, Inc. (LCI), a consortium of over 30 libraries in north-central Connecticut, which maintains a shared catalog of materials. You may place a hold on consortium-owned materials using the process outlined above.
If you are looking for an item that is not owned by our consortium libraries, it may be owned by Connecticut public libraries outside our consortium and requested through Inter-Library Loan (ILL):
- BPL staff will check item availability in Connecticut libraries outside our consortium and place an inter-library loan request on your behalf.
- You may request up to 3 inter-library loan items at a time.
- Requested items must be picked up from and returned to Bloomfield Public Library.
- Please note: lending policies vary by library, and some requests may not be filled.