Reserve Museum Visits at AbbotLibrary.org

You can do more than reserve books online at the Abbot Public Library. Thanks to funding from the Friends of the Abbot Public Library, starting next Monday you can go to the library's Web site and reserve passes for museums like the Museum of Fine Art and New England Aquarium.

Library card holders have been able to reserve the passes by phone or in person, but now the reservations can be made from any computer at any hour of the day. The program is called LibraryInsight.

"It is really a service upgrade," Library Director Patricia Rogers told her board Tuesday night. "I expect this to be very well received."

The service will be launched on Sept. 13, and promoted throughout the fall, she said.

The museums included are Boston by Foot, Children's Museum, DeCordova Museum, House of Seven Gables, Institute of Contemporary Art, Isabella Stewart Gardner, John F. Kennedy Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, New England Aquarium, Peabody/Essex Museum and Zoo New England.

To reserve a museum pass, you must be at least 18 years old and have a library card. Passes can be reserved for up to 30 days in advance. One pass may be reserved per week. Passes can be picked up at the library in the afternoon on the day before the reserved visit. Bring your library card or send it with the person picking up the passes.

Some passes have a fee of $1 at the library, and some museums have additional charges per person.

To reserve a pass, go to www.abbotlibrary.org, click on About Us and then click on Museum Passes. If you have an email address, the library will send you a confirmation on the reservation and a reminder a few days before you pick up your pass. You can view or cancel your pass on the web site as well.

Other library news

In other library news, Rogers reported that the library had a 10 percent increase in circulation during the last fiscal year as compared to fiscal year 2009. The circulation of materials from the library increased from 218,310 last year to 240,518 this year.

During the last year, the library offered 152 adult programs and had an attendance of about 2,300 people. It had 64 children's programs with 1,859 attending and 16 young adult programs with 147 attending.

The library meeting spaces were used 637 times last year for an average of 53 times per month.

During the last rainstorm, water accumulated in the driveway off Pleasant Street to about a foot in depth. The Fire Department pumped out the water before it entered the building, she said.

"Thank God nobody opened the door like they did last time," said board Chairman Phil Sweeney. The damage to the library from water during a storm last year was about $4,400, he said.