BORROWING LIBRARY MATERIALS

The Mark Twain Library owns a wide range of materials that may be borrowed, including books in print and audio formats, magazines, movies, and music CDs. Click here for a description of our adult collections, here for a description of our children's and teen collections, and here for information on loan periods, renewals and overdue fines for these items.

Patrons of the Mark Twain Library may also borrow materials from all other public libraries in the state of Connecticut. They can do this in four ways.

by visiting other libraries
Your library card may be used to borrow materials from any other public library in the state of Connecticut that you have occasion to visit. Any material you borrow from another library can be returned to the Mark Twain Library, and we will return it for you through the state's C-Car system. (The material is considered "returned" to the original lending library on the date it is actually returned to the Mark Twain Library.)

by using the Bibliomation request system
The Mark Twain Library has joined the Bibliomation Library consortium, a group of 67 public and school libraries. The Mark Twain now has fast access to the 2,500,000 items in the consortium's joint collection. Items can be searched and requested entirely through the library's online catalog. Click here for easy instructions.

Items requested from the consortium will typically arrive in 2 - 4 days; you will be notified when they arrive at the Mark Twain.

by using the ICONN REQUEST system
The Connecticut State Library operates the ICONN REQUEST system, which grants library cardholders borrowing access to almost all the 15,000,000 items in Connecticut public library collections. Use the statewide library catalog to search for your desired item and then request it; click here for easy instructions.

Items requested through the ICONN REQUEST system will arrive in a week to ten days; you will be notified when they arrive

by requesting an interlibrary loan though the Mark Twain Library
Some library materials cannot be loaned through the procedures listed above, for instance, items from university collections, unique holdings, or specific non-book materials. Maureen Jones will be happy to assist you with locating and requesting these materials.

Maureen can also help you if the item you need is not available from a library in Connecticut, since the library can borrow materials from libraries in other states. Please directly with this category of request. (There may be a fee for an out-of-state loan.)