CIRCULATION POLICIES
AT THE ST. HELENA PUBLIC LIBRARY

LIBRARY CARDS

Adults and children over 16 need to show a photo identification with name and verification of current address. Children under 16 need a parent or guardian signature. First card is free. Replacement fee for lost card is 50 cents. St. Helena Library cards are valid at any SNAP (Solano, Napa and Partners) Library.

LOANS

Books, magazines, CDs, and cassettes are loaned for 28 days. Videos and DVDs are loaned for 7 days. Bestsellers and Holiday items are loaned for 14 days. Material borrowed from other SNAP libraries may have a different loan period. You may check out up to 10 each of videos (this includes DVDs), CDs, and cassettes. Maximum number of items a patron can have checked out is 50.


RETURNS

Library material may be returned to any SNAP Library.

RENEWALS

Library material may be renewed online, in person or by telephone for two additional check-out periods unless someone has placed a hold on the title. An item may not be renewed if it is more than 14 days overdue. Interlibrary loans beyond SNAP (including SuperSearch) may not be renewed.

FINES AND FEES

   Adult material .20 cents per day
   Young Adult material .20 cents per day
   Children's material no charge
   Maximum fine $6.00
   Lost material Cost of item plus a $6.00 processing fee

 

Adopted by the St. Helena Public Library Board of Trustees, November 9. 2005.
 

 

Get an e-Card


INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING THE EBOOKS & EAUDIOBOOKS COLLECTION

  1. Go to the SNAPCheck page and enter your library card account information.

  2. Browse or search through over 3500 public domain titles found in netLibrary's public domain collection.

  3. View the full text of any title (that is not currently checked out) for up to 15 minutes.

  4. Set up an account (similar to obtaining a library card) if you want to check out one or more books and access them whenever or wherever you are through your own Web browser.

Once you have established an account, you can check out books by going directly to www.netlibrary.com. Simply login to your netLibrary account from your Internet-enabled home or business computer.


Access the collection 

or

READ THE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT EBOOKS


To Access the FAQ for the eAudiobooks Collection:

  1. Go to the netLibrary website and click on ‘Learn more…’ at the end of the paragraph on the netLibrary front page.
  2. A small box will pop up on the screen, click on the eAudiobooks link, this will take you to the eAudiobook help page.
  3. Scroll down until you see the ‘FAQ – eAudiobooks’ link.

 

What are eBooks?
eBooks are a new means of accessing books. eBooks offer book length content in a digital format.  Usually eBooks are digitized versions of their print counterparts. Occasionally eBooks originate and exist only in a digital form. Like print books, the text found in eBooks is often enriched with photos, illustrations, graphs and tables. Unlike eBooks, users can navigate through the text (e.g. easily search for specific passages) in ways not possible in print.

How are eBooks accessed?
Some types of eBooks are delivered via the Internet and users must be online to read them. Other types of eBooks are downloaded to a user's PC or some other portable device such as a Rocket Book or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The St. Helena Public Library eBooks are from netLibrary and may be read at Library workstations, or--after establishing an account--may be downloaded at your home or business computer.

What is netLibrary?
Founded in 1998, netLibrary is a company whose business is to acquire electronic distribution rights to thousands of books and make them available to users. The predominant method of accessing netLibrary titles is online through a library or personal web browser.

How did we get access to e-books?
St. Helena Public Library is a member of the Golden Gateway Library Network E-Book Consortium. GGLN contracted with NetLibrary, an e-book vendor, for access by the consortium.

How does it work?
NetLibrary uses the traditional library model for distributing and managing eBooks. Each ebook in a library's collection may be viewed by one person at a time. If another user wants to look at a book that is in use, that user must wait until the first user is finished with it. If a user "checks out" an eBook, that user will have exclusive access to that copy for the duration of the loan period.

What kinds of books are available in the Golden Gateway Library Network E-Book collection?
Books on computers, classics, philosophy, history, resume-writing, travel, and many other subjects. You should know that current popular fiction and mysteries are usually not available in the collection.

Do I need to register with netLibrary from a Library workstation or can I do it from home?
You must register with netLibrary from a St. Helena Public Library workstation. This means you must come into the Library at least once. After registration at a Library workstation, your netLibrary account is automatically associated with the Library and you may download or read eBooks without coming into the Library.

Are these electronic books stored at the Library?
No. The St. Helena Public Library eBooks are "checked out" or read online through the netLibrary Web site. None of these books are not stored locally.

How long can titles be checked out?
The loan period is (24) twenty-four hours which is set by the Golden Gateway Library Network. This loan period may be adjusted in the future.

May I renew eBooks?
Yes, assuming no one has checked out the book after your loan period expired.

What happens when the loan period expires?
The eBook will automatically disappear from your account and will be made available to other interested users. No trips to the library! No overdue fines! You can also return the book before the due date by simply choosing that option.

May I put a request in for an eBook?
No, not at this time. NetLibrary has indicated this is a feature they are working on for a future release.

Can I print an eBook?
Selected pages can be printed, but users are prohibited from printing books in their entirety or otherwise redistributing them. If a user attempts to print an entire book, the system displays a copyright infringement notice. After about three of these warnings, the user is cut off.

Do I need special software to read eBooks?
No, not if you will be browsing the book without checking it out.. You can view the content on a standard PC that is equipped with Internet access. If you wish to check the book out through your home or business computer, you may download and read it with special netLibrary software (see below).

Must I be connected to the Internet to access netLibrary's titles?
That is currently the predominant method. However, home users may wish to investigate netLibrary's eBook Reader, software which allows the user to work offline and provides increased functionality such as bookmarking certain sections, adding notes etc. System requirements: Windows 95/98/NT 4.0 or greater, Pentium 100, 32 MB RAM, 20MB free disk space. At this time netLibrary's eBooks cannot be downloaded to other more portable devices.

Is this collection available only to St. Helena Public Library customers?
No. This eBooks collection is shared among all customers of twenty-one (21) library systems in the Bay area. It is intended that if particular titles prove to be especially popular, extra copies will be purchased by the consortium from netLibrary.

How can I give the library feedback about this project?
Let us know what you think of our eBooks collection by filling out our comments form.