Beaumont Library Offering Curbside Pickup and Delivery

Beaumont Library is now offering some limited special services until the state and country restrictions are lifted that have closed our building to the public.

Curbside pickup of holds from our parking lot began on May 11 and is available to anyone who places a hold on an item in the library's catalog and has been notified that it is available to be picked up. These are the requirements for this service:

• Customers must receive notice from the Library that their holds are ready to be picked up before coming to the Library. No exceptions will be made.
• Holds can only be picked up on Mondays and Thursdays from 10:00am-2:00pm, and all items will be checked out to you and sanitized for your safety.
• When you arrive at the library for curbside pickup, you must call 951-845-1357 to identify yourself and let staff know you have arrived. No service other than holds pickup is allowed (except to update library cards as necessary).
• If you leave your vehicle, you must wear a facial covering and maintain 6-foot social distancing, or service may be refused. Wait for staff to place your items on the pickup table before approaching. If you do not wish to leave your vehicle, and can open your trunk remotely, staff will place the hold items in your trunk.
• If you are unable to pick up your items within 7 days of receiving your pickup notice, those holds will be canceled and the items will go to the next customers waiting or be returned to the shelf if no other holds have been placed on them.
• Per library policy, no more than 10 items may be placed on hold at any one time, and you must take all items that are ready for you when you arrive for pickup.
• All return items must be placed in one of the Library’s book returns—located on the side of the parking lot alley, as well as next to the California Avenue entrance.
• At this time, payment of any pre-existing fines and fees can only be handled through the mail or by credit card over the telephone.

Please remember that the Beaumont Library building is still closed to the public until restrictions are lifted by the county and state. While holds can be picked up in the parking lot, the building is not available for any use by the public at this time.

In addition to curbside pickup, the Library is also offering delivery services to its regular institutional customers (such as daycare providers) and for high-risk/at-risk individuals living in Beaumont and Cherry Valley.

If you fall into one of these categories, you can place your items on hold using our online catalog. Or you can call or email us to make arrangements! The number to use is (951) 845- 1357, or you can email us at our new bookmobile@bld.lib.ca.us address.

Once you receive confirmation that your hold items are available, call or email us to arrange to take delivery. As with our curbside pickup, proper health protocols will be observed at all times.

Curbside pickup may be expanded and other services may be offered in the coming days, so be sure to keep informed by checking the Library’s website at bld.lib.ca.us on a regular basis.

And do not forget that whether Beaumont Library is open or not, we have many digital services available to our cardholders for free. And, now, the Ancestry database is temporarily available from outside the library so that you can research your family history from the comfort of your own home!

To access the best genealogical database in the world, just log into your patron account, click the “Summary” button to the left, and you will find the link for Ancestry toward the top of the page.

Beaumont Library has many other digital resources available to our cardholders for free, such as e-books, e-audiobooks, and magazines, in addition to streaming music, movies, and TV. These materials are available online 24/7 at bld.lib.ca.us without the need to even visit our building!

Get Overdrive e-books and e-audiobooks with the Libby app. Overdrive is the world’s premiere source for digital material in the public library market. It is also the only one that provides access to e-materials from Amazon and is compatible with Kindle!

And if you do not have a Beaumont Library card, we have made it easier than ever to access our Overdrive e-book and e-audiobook collections through our new, free “Instant Digital Card.” If you live within our district you can sign up online and be ready to check out now!

To expand our offerings, we are also partnering with the following Southern California libraries that are sharing their Overdrive material among the group: Camarillo Public Library, Moorpark City Library, and San Bernardino Public Library. It is hoped that others will join in the near future. For more information, go to bld.overdrive.com.

Hoopla is Beaumont Library's first full-fledged streaming service available to anyone with a valid Beaumont Library card. With your card number, you will be able to use the Hoopla app to borrow free digital audiobooks, e-books, movies, TV programs, music, and comics 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

These various media formats can be streamed to your computer, smartphone, tablet, laptop, smart TV, and other devices in the same way that you access other pay-to-play services, such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc. After the initial signup, you just browse the Hoopla offerings, select what you want, and watch movies and TV programs, read comics and e-books, and listen to music and audiobooks.

RB Digital’s platform is your all-in-one source for digital audiobooks, popular Zinio emagazines, and their other streaming media like AcornTV! Learn how to set up, download, and use this free library service either for accessing digital audiobooks and e-books or streaming media like AcornTV for British entertainment, the Great Courses, or SAT and ACT Prep for education, and Pongalo for great Spanish language entertainment.

Even though the Beaumont Library building is closed, our book returns on California Avenue and next to the library parking lot remain open and are being emptied on a regular basis. Fines are being suspended during the time the Library is closed and we have put a freeze on any physical items that have been placed on hold.

If you need Internet access, it is important to point out that Beaumont Library’s powerful 1-Gigabit broadband wi-fi signal can be accessed from the parking lot during the Library's "old normal" hours.

Eventually, Beaumont Library will be open again to the public and the Bookmobile will be making stops throughout the community, but in the meantime, please make yourself familiar with the wide array of digital resources available at your fingertips from Beaumont Library!