FAQs: Requesting Materials
GRRL provides notices to patrons in multiple ways: via phone, email, or postal mail, depending on patron preference. Notices will inform you both of which items are available for checkout and how long they can be held.
As a courtesy to our patrons who have selected email notification, we also sent notices three days before items are due and one month before your account expires. To help ensure e-mail delivery, add us to your e-mail contacts: notices@grrl.lib.mn.us.
Requested items are available for pick-up at your chosen library for seven calendar days, including the day the items arrive in the library. You will be notified by phone, email, or letter - whichever preference you have chosen for your library account.
If you have chosen email notification, please add notices@grrl.lib.mn.us to your contact list so that your email server does not treat our notices as spam.
Almost any item at any Great River Regional library can be requested using the online catalog from home, work or at the library. Library staff can also assist you over the phone or within the library. Please know that if you use the GRRL library chat box, you may be connected with a librarian outside of GRRL. If this happens, you can still submit your request, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Check out our locations for open hours and contact information.
If you have looked through the GRRL catalog and we either don't have the item you want or don't have it in the format you need, we have options to help you.
Title Request
Items requested online will automatically be sent to the pick-up location you chose for your account, but you may still select a different pick-up library at the time of the request.
Each GRRL library has a "Holds" shelf near the check-out desk where requested items are shelved, most often by patron's library card barcode number. If you are unsure how items on hold are shelved at your local library or where the "Holds" shelf is located, be sure to stop at the check-out desk and ask.
You may have up to 100 active requests on your account at one time. That includes requests that are waiting to be filled, in transit or being held for you at your chosen pick-up location. Any MnLink or other Interlibrary Loan requests will also appear on your request list once they are sent to Great River Regional Library from the lending library.
There is a limit of 20 holds (requests) on the digital library Overdrive / Libby.
Unfortunately we are not able to guarantee arrival times for requested items.
Patrons are able to suspend requests within their account to delay delivery for a period of time. You can do this yourself by logging into your account at the top of this page or ask library staff for assistance.