FAQ

Clinton-Macomb Public Library offers online library card registrations. Once you fill out the form you have one month to come into any CMPL library building to verify your information and receive your library card. Please bring in one piece of photo identification or two pieces of information that verify your address (if photo I.D. is not available).

Upon receiving a library card every customer is assigned a default PIN/Password consisting of the last four digits of their phone number. Try that password first; if it does not work or you would like to have a different password, please call or visit the library to have your password changed by a staff member. Alternatively you can have your password emailed to the email address we have on file for you.

The library happily accepts book and media donations with the exception of magazines. Items are reviewed for possible addition to the collection. Materials not added are given to the Friends of the Library for their used book sale. The library accepts donations during all regular business hours and tax donation receipts are available upon request from any checkout desk.

Customers have a five (5) day window to come into the library and retrieve held items. A customer may be notified by phone or email. Phone notification is the most immediate and occurs the day the item becomes held and email notification goes out the day after the item becomes held.

The statuses describe the state of the request. For example, when a request is first placed it is “Active”, when staff have been alerted to go and retrieve the item, the request is, “Pending”. “Held” requests are those items currently being held for the customer. Active requests can be cancelled by the customer (when logged into their account) or by a staff member. “Cancelled” requests include those requests that have been filled but never picked up by the customer. Cancelled requests appear on the account for 30 days and then are deleted.

Customers should inform a CMPL staff of this inconsistency. Staff members can assign the item a status of “claim-returned” or “claim-never-had” in our catalog. Staff members will then search for these items throughout our library system until the item is found or billed against the customer account.

Customers are stopped from basic library privileges when they exceed $15.00 in fines. If customers have lost items and inform the library staff of this, they will be charged the replacement fee for the item. If customers neglect to return materials and items are overdue by more than 45 days, CMPL assumes the item is lost and bills the customer for the replacement of the item.

The library has a policy, common in many public libraries, that prohibits replacements in lieu of payment for lost, damaged or missing items. Your intentions may be in the right place, but there’s more that goes into getting library items on the shelf than meets the eye. Our team must evaluate whether or not an item will be replaced, purchase the correct edition of a work, and process the item to make it shelf-ready.

If a library account exceeds $50.00 in fines AND the customer has been sent a bill warning them of this, they will be submitted to a collection agency for recovery of fines, plus a $10.00 processing fee.

You can log on to your account and choose, “Change Account Information.” You will be required to supply photo identification with the information change, (or two pieces of identification if no photo I.D. is available) next time to visit your local CMPL branch.

Librarians at Clinton-Macomb Public Library have compiled quality databases and web resources into subject categories; visit the Research & Homework page to explore a research area of interest.

Live Homework Help is just a click away. Using a chat window, Live Homework Help is a service that connects students of all ages with professionally screened tutors. Tutors will guide students to a solution.

You need to set up an account with an RSS Reader (sometimes called an aggregator). Once you have set up your account, click on the button then cut and paste that URL into a new feed that you set up within your RSS Reader. Everyday you will see new titles that Clinton-Macomb Public Library has added to its collection. Alternatively, if you are waiting for one specific title, you can set up a saved search that runs incrementally and emails you the results.

We ask that you call and let us know immediately if you believe an item was damaged before you checked it out. In most cases we will make a note of it in the item record and you will not be charged. If an item was damaged during your checkout, you may be held responsible for the cost of replacing the item at its retail price (we do not accept replacement items due to the processing and security devices that we purchase for CMPL materials). If you suspect materials have been exposed to bed bugs, lice, or other pests, please notify the library and place the item in a sealed bag.