Winnetka Public Library
768 Oak Street
Winnetka, IL 60093 (map)
(847) 446-7220

Northfield Branch
1785 Orchard Lane
Northfield, IL 60093 (map)
(847) 446-5990

Last Updated: July 19, 2007

Services Available from the
Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District

Click on the link or call the Main Library at (847) 446-7220 or the Northfield Branch at (847) 446-5990 to find out more.

Library Card Services

Getting a card

Most residents of Winnetka, Northfield, and Kenilworth are entitled to a "free" Library Card. One piece of identification showing both name and current address is required. Persons residing outside of the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District who are not served by another library may purchase a card at the library nearest their residence.

If your card is not used in a 3 year period to checkout Library material you will need to visit the Library to confirm and update your account information. Failure to do so will result in an invalid card.

Renewals

Material can be renewed in person, by phone, or on the web. You can call the Main Library or the Northfield Branch and ask for materials you have checked out to be renewed. You can also fill out our web renewal form and request books to be renewed by emailing the Reference Desk. Online catalog renewals are also available.

Vacation Loan Periods

If you are going on vacation we will be happy to check out books to you for 6 weeks rather than the normal loan period of 3 weeks. This is not available for new books or 7 day books, however. No renewals are allowed on vacation loans.

Books on Wheels

If you are unable to come into the Library for a period of time, the District has volunteers who will deliver your materials to your home. Please call the Reference Desk at (847) 446-7220 for more information on this service.

Online Catalog Services

Online Holds

The Library offers two ways to reserve books, books on cassette, books on CD, videocassettes, DVDs and music online. You can use the online catalog, or the Online Request form.

The online request form is the best to use if you think the book is on the shelf and you want to pick it up soon. Using the form lets a librarian know that you are interested in the book and the librarian will check the availability of the item and put it aside if it's on the shelf.

Using the online catalog will place a reserve for a book directly in our catalog system and if a copy is available to be borrowed on the shelf at any library in our consortium of about 20 libraries we will have it for you in about a week. The online catalog will not let you place holds on any material if you have fines or overdue items. In such cases you should use the Online Request form or call the Main Library or Northfield Branch instead.

Online Renewals

The online catalog will let you renew checked out materials on your own (if allowed for the specific item) if you go to the My Account page, click on 'Renew My Materials', and type in your library card number and password (which is set as the word 'patron' if you don't change it). If you have any fines or overdue items the online catalog will not let you renew materials, although you can still call the Main Library or the Northfield Branch or use the web renewal form.

Email Hold & Pre-overdue Notification

You can choose to be notified by email rather than by phone when reserved books become available for pickup. To set this up, just fill out and submit this web form.

If you sign up for email hold notification, you will also receive pre-overdue notices via email. You will receive the notice three days prior to when your materials are due.

Free Wireless Internet Hotspot (WiFi)

At both the Main Library in Winnetka and the Northfield Branch we have free wireless Internet access available to anyone with a laptop and a 802.11b compliant wireless card. Just start up your computer, connect to the wireless hotspot (named 'winnetka_hotspot' in Winnetka and 'northfield_hotspot' in Northfield), start up a browser, and agree to our user agreement. After that, you are free to check e-mail and browse the web.

Internet and Database Stations

There are computers at both the Main Library and the Northfield Branch where you can browse the Internet and use Library subscription databases. There are 5 Internet stations, 1 express Internet station (15 minute time limit) and 2 database only stations in the adult services reference area in the Main Library. There are two Internet stations in the youth services department at the Main Library which are reserved for use by children. At the Northfield Branch there are a total of 5 computers available for Internet browsing.

There are also 3 computers at the Main Library that have Microsoft Office 2003 Professional (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access) installed. None of these computers access the Internet so they do not have the time restrictions imposed on them that the Internet access machines do. Two of the 5 Internet computers at the Northfield Branch also have Microsoft Office 2003 Professional installed.

eBooks & eAudiobooks

Using your library card you can read a large assortment of books online and download thousands more of audiobooks to listen to on your Windows-based computer or on certain compatible MP3 players. To find out what is available, you can go to netLibrary and after typing in your card number you can create an account there. For specific information about using eAudiobooks from netLibrary check our netLibrary eAudiobook guide and our netLibrary eAudiobook Frequently Asked Questions list.

Newsletters, Blogs, & RSS

There are a variety of ways for you to keep informed about what's happening at the Library. First we have our quarterly newsletter, The Source, which is mailed out and is available to download in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format.

We have a monthly email newsletter. To subscribe to that just visit the email newsletter subscription page and you'll receive next month's issue via email.

The Library also offers the Kids' Book Review, a monthly email newsletter created to keep parents and caregivers informed of new kids' books. Our librarians provide short summaries and opinions of young adult fiction, juvenile fiction, juvenile non-fiction and picture books. To subscribe you can go to the Kids' Book Review subscription page or call the Northfield Branch at (847) 446-5990. Past issues of the Kids' Book Review newsletter in PDF format are also available to download.

The Youth Services department has a Blog for the youth library council (C.O.O.L.) that has book reviews and other special features.

The Library can also keep you up to date with our many RSS feeds which can detail upcoming programs or lists of recently discussed books.

NextReads

NextReads will deliver reading lists right to your inbox.

It's easy! Enter your library card number on our NextReads page, create a new account, and choose from categories such as: Armchair Travel, At Your Leisure, Biography and Memoir, Business and Marketing, Fiction A to Z, Historical Fiction, History and Current Events, Horror, Inspirational Fiction, Mind and Body Fitness, Mystery, Nature and Science, Popular Culture, Romance, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Spirituality and Religion, Teen Scene, Thrillers and Suspense.

Book & DVD Discussions

The Library offers numerous book discussions each month. For a list of upcoming book discussions see our book clubs section of the programs page. We've also started offering a monthly film discussion group.

Book Discussion Leader Training and Assistance

In addition to hosting our own book discussions, we do many things to help people who want to host their own book discussion groups. Periodically we offer book discussion leader training courses to help book discussion leaders become familiar with the many resources the Library has available to help in planning discussions.

We will also set aside and borrow multiple copies of books for book groups, making it easier to be sure every member of your discussion group has a chance to read the book to be discussed.

For more information on book discussion leader training and assistance for your book club, please call Jane at (847) 446-7220.

Interlibrary Loan

If we don't have a book, we will try our best to get it for you from another library. You can come to the Library and request any book that interests you or you can fill out our book request form and we will try to borrow it from another library.

Ongoing Book Sale

A cart in the lobby of the Main Library and at the Northfield Branch offers recently withdrawn materials for $1 an item.

Photocopiers & Microfilm Readers

3 Photocopiers are available for making black & white copies at 10 cents a page. One of the photocopiers also will make color copies at $1 a page. We also have several microfilm readers which can copy our materials on microfilm at 10 cents a page, and in the Genealogy Department there is a microfilm scanner that can be used to print out scans from microfilm at 10 cents a page, or save scans to a disk or email them for free (available during the hours of the Genealogy Department only).