Cards can currently be obtained by phone or in person. Please see the Library Cards and Circulation page for more information. 

Call or drop by your branch to confirm you have an email address in your account and that it’s correct. If you have the correct email address in your account the most likely problem is that our emails are being routed to a junk mail or spam folder. Check those folders and if you find an email notice, mark it as “not spam” or “not junk mail.” Also, add the address our notices come from, sirsi@stlu.sirsi.net, to your address book. Instructions for how to add an address to an address book for most email services can be found with an internet search, for instance “how to add a contact to a Gmail address book.” 

Some email services use other kinds of folders besides spam or junk mail. For instance, Gmail uses an “Updates” folder for emails that come from the same sender and have the same subject line, so our hold notices might be routed there, and you will need to check your “Updates” folder to see them. Also, some email services group emails with the same subject line, so when a new notice is received you won’t see it unless you look through the group of emails with that same subject line. 

Note that it’s possible to pick up a hold before a notice is sent for it. Hold notices are sent just after noon on days your branch is open and just after 9 pm on the evening before days your branch is open. If a hold was trapped at 9:30 am and you picked it up before noon, or if a hold was trapped at 12:30 pm and you picked it up before closing the same day, no notice would have been sent. 

It’s possible to inadvertently block our notices by blocking the address they come from. To unblock an email in Gmail you would need to log in to your Gmail account on a browser, go to Settings (the gear at the top right), click on “See all settings,” then click on “Filters and Blocked Addresses” and unblock sirsi@stlu.sirsi.net. To unblock an address in another email service search for information on the internet or check your service’s help files. 

It's possible your email service is blocking our notices entirely. Our notices are successfully received by a wide variety of email services so it would be unusual but not impossible for a service to block them entirely. Many free email services, like Gmail, allow you to automatically forward all emails from one account to an address at another email service. You could set up an account in Gmail solely for the purpose of receiving our notices and having them forwarded to the account you normally use. Instructions on how to do this can generally be found with a search on the internet.

If you’re not able to resolve a problem with our email notices, you have the option to remove your email address from your account and receive phone calls for holds and paper notices for overdues. You can also download our app to your phone or tablet and check your account periodically for holds and due dates. 

Yes, we will attempt to borrow from other libraries items that we do not own. There is no charge for this service, but please note this may take 4 to 6 weeks or more. You must have a library card with no unpaid fees, and you are limited to five active interlibrary loan requests. Request forms are available at Library service desks, or requests can be made online through the online catalog. After logging in, click on "Send Request" at the top of the page, then change the "Request Type" to Interlibrary Loan/Recommend to Purchase. Requested items circulate for two weeks, renewals may be granted at the discretion of the lending library, and overdue fines are $1 per day. Additional information is available on the Interlibrary Loan Policy page.

To renew items:

1. Call any branch circulation desk. Please have your card number handy when you call. The phone numbers of our libraries are available here.
2. If you know your PIN, click here and sign in with your card number and PIN, then, in the Checkouts tab, check the boxes by the items you want to renew or click on "Renew All" to renew all your items, and click on the Renew button. Unless you've changed it, your PIN is the 4-digit number written on your card. If you don't know your PIN you can obtain it by calling any library branch and verifying your library card number and contact details.
3. Bring the item(s) in to the circulation desk of any library branch.

Renewable items can be renewed three times for the same period as the original loan, unless they have been requested by someone else, in which case they cannot be renewed. Also, you cannot renew items online if you owe $10 or more in fees; an account owing a balance of $10 or more is blocked until the balance is paid to less than $10. Interlibrary loan items may be renewed if the lending library approves a renewal.

Renewal dates are calculated from the date due rather than the day items are renewed, so if you renew a DVD 6 days before its due date you have 20 more days rather than 14. However, in order to prevent someone from checking an item out and immediately gaining an entire new checkout period—for instance renewing an item the same day it’s checked out and having a 28-day checkout period, or renewing twice and getting a 42-day checkout period—it’s necessary to limit the renewal period to the last few days of the checkout period. The renewal period for 14-day items begins 5 days before their due date. This system also ensures you can renew an item early and still keep it the maximum period of time, as long as no one else has requested it.

If you have a library card you can sit down at any available computer and log yourself in. If you don't have a card you'll need to visit the service desk to get a visitor's pass. All computers are filtered for adult content and children's computers have some additional content restrictions. Sessions at the adult computers are for 45 or 60 minutes depending on the branch, and sessions at the children's computers are 30 minutes, though additional time is automatically granted as long as no one is waiting. Wireless access is also available. Information about software, printing and specialized hardware is available here, and our computer policies and procedures are available here.

The Library has discontinued overdue fines on items in our collection, though there is still a $1 per day overdue fine for items borrowed through interlibrary loan from other libraries. Items overdue by 30 days or more will incur a replacement fee for the cost of the item. Questions about replacement fees should be directed to the branch where the item was checked out from, or to the Overdues Assistant at 772-462-2787. Interlibrary loan fines and replacement fees can be paid by cash, money order or check at any St. Lucie County Library service desk. 

To pay a replacement fee by mail, please make the check out to the St. Lucie County Library System and send it to:

Delphine Newton, Circulation Assistant
Fort Pierce Branch Library
101 Melody Lane
Fort Pierce FL 34950

Please make sure your current phone number is on your check, and also add your library card number and your license number, or the ID number you gave us when you registered for a card, so we can be sure to credit your payment to the correct account.

If you can't find an item you have borrowed you will be responsible for the replacement cost of the item. Please visit any branch library to reimburse the library for the purchase price in cash, money order or personal check. If necessary a payment plan can be arranged.

If an item is damaged beyond repair you will be responsible for the replacement cost of the item. In most cases you can choose to replace it with an identical copy, though it must be truly identical; for instance, a copy of a book must have the same ISBN as the original. Please contact the owning branch library to confirm your replacement can be accepted in lieu of payment. Some damage can be repaired, and it is sometimes possible to replace a damaged disc that is part of a multi-disc set, in which case you will be responsible only for the cost of repairing the damage or replacing the disc.

To pay by mail, please make the check out to the St. Lucie County Library System and send it to:

Delphine Newton, Circulation Assistant
Fort Pierce Branch Library
101 Melody Lane
Fort Pierce FL 34950

Please make sure your current phone number is on your check, and also add your library card number and your license number, or the ID number you gave us when you registered for a card, so we can be sure to credit your payment to the correct account.

To place a hold on an item in the online catalog you will need the barcode number on your library card and your PIN. If you don't know your PIN you can obtain it by calling any library branch and verifying your library card number and contact details. In the catalog click on "Log In" at the top of the page and log in. When you find an item you want to place a hold on, click on the "Place Hold" button. You'll be prompted to select a pick-up branch. You can also place a hold on items by calling any branch library.

The short answer is that there are times, particularly when there are lots of copies of a popular item, when your place in line is approximate rather than real.  

The system does strictly identify items to fill holds in the order the holds were placed, but if items need to be transferred because the pickup library is different from the branches the items were discharged at, the system can't say for certain which hold will actually be made available next, and a certain degree of chance becomes part of the process. Because at any given time multiple holds (whose items are in transit) can have the potential to be the next one filled, the record for each of these accounts will say their hold is first in line. In addition, the next hold in line, for which a copy hasn't yet been identified, will also be listed as first in line because it could also potentially be the next hold to be filled. While items are identified to fill holds in the order the holds were placed, holds can't always be filled in that order, so there are times when your place in line is approximate rather than real.

For instance, let's say there are 5 copies of a popular book currently in transit to fill holds, and a 6th copy of the book is checked out. Although the system has identified copies to fill the holds in the order in which they were placed, it doesn't know for certain which item will be received at its pickup library first to fill its hold; all 5 could potentially be filled first, so all 5 accounts will say they're first in line. In addition, a 6th hold, placed after the other 5, could also be the next hold filled, if the checked-out copy is discharged at the 6th hold's pickup library (and so doesn't need to be put in transit) before those other items arrive to fill their holds. All 6 holds are potentially the next to be filled, but none of them is definitely the next to be filled. (In this example the system could tell the 6th person they're 6th in line, but that wouldn't reflect what's going on. At this point the chance of their hold being the next one filled is, at least in principle, equal to the other 5, though it's more likely the transferred items will arrive first.)

When items are being transferred to other branches to fill holds it becomes impossible to say for sure which hold will be filled next, so there are times when being first in line means that your hold should be filled soon and that it could be the next one to be filled, but not necessarily that no other holds will be filled before yours.

All St. Lucie County Library items can be returned at any St. Lucie County branch during regular hours. All branches have outside returns where books can be returned when libraries are closed. If you have fragile items such as DVDs and CDs to return, please secure their cases with rubber bands to avoid damage before returning them in after-hours returns, or return them inside the library during regular hours.