Who can get a Card?

Anyone age 5 and older who lives in Douglas or Danforth Township may get a library card.  A non-resident owner of property in the library district is entitled to a card for one member of his family.  Businesses operating within the library district are entitled to one library card.

Non-resident fees

Those out of district may get a non-resident library card for a fee. Current fees are $75 yearly.

How to get your own card?

Bring a letter or bill with your current address on it to the library and fill out a short application form.  Your card will be ready the next day.  You may use computers and check out a book the day of application.

New I.D. Requirements

The Illinois Heartland Library System is asking all public libraries to include the driver’s license number in the patron records. This is not a field that has been required in the past, so local libraries will be asking patrons who come in to check out or return books to show their driver’s license.  The library staff can scan the barcode on the license into the patron record and hand it right back to the patron.  If an adult patron does not have a driver’s license he or she may use an Illinois State I.D., passport, or other government issued I.D.  Children will use one parent’s driver’s license number.​

In addition to the driver’s license, the library system is requiring a birth date on every library patron record.  Some libraries have already been documenting birthdays because it helps with analysis of statistical data, but a few records do not have the birth date yet.

These rules go into effect September 1, and no new or modified records will be able to be saved in the system without the birth date or government issued I.D. number.

If library patrons would like to update their records they may call or visit the library.  It only takes a few seconds to add the data to the record.  Otherwise, the library staff will ask the patrons to make the changes when they come in to use the library.