Once a year, every account in our library system needs to be renewed. We try to make renewing your account pretty simple: call or come in to verify your contact information, then you’re good for another year. You even get to keep your old card. Easy-peasy.
Accounts expire so we can maintain current records for each patron account. Mostly, we need to make sure we have correct contact information in the event that a patron forgets to return an item or leaves something important in library material they’ve returned. Plus, the Oklahoma Department of Libraries requires that we keep current patron records in order to receive our annual State Aid grant.
When your account expires, our system blocks you from being able to use our computers, use Overdrive or Libby, and from being able to check out materials. Renewing your account reactivates all of those systems within a matter of minutes.
We also try to keep the accounts in our system current, so we use long-expired accounts as the basis for purging old records. We assume if you haven’t been in to renew your account in 3 or more years, you’ve either moved or decided to find library services elsewhere. As long as these expired accounts don’t owe us lost materials, they’re deleted.
If your account expired long enough ago that it was deleted from our system but you want to use the library again, we’ll treat it like a brand new account. For that, we need to see your photo ID and a piece of mail that has your current address on it. There’s a short form to fill out and you’re all set.
Of course, you’re welcome to sign up for a digital library account through our website. A digital account gives you access to use everything we have available online. The only thing you can’t do with a digital account is take physical materials home.