No deliveries are being made during Service Level 1. To request new delivery services, please fill out this form »
Due to various COVID-19 safety considerations for both patrons and library staff, we expect to resume Home Delivery services in Service Level 2. At that time, the library expects to expand this free service to new participants, prioritizing patrons at high risk of contracting the coronavirus and/or those who have limited means of safely getting physical materials from the library. This includes Oak Park seniors (60+), Oak Park residents who have preexisting conditions or are otherwise immunocompromised, and Oak Park families with young children.
What else do I need to know?
- If you received delivery services prior to library building closures, a library staff member will contact you prior to resuming delivery services in Service Level 2 to confirm you want to continue the service and explain any changes related to health and safety.
- You can also call us at 708.383.8200 and email us at homedelivery@oppl.org.
- Don’t have a library card yet? Learn more about getting instant access »
What materials can I receive and when are deliveries made?
- You may request any materials currently available in the Oak Park collection through Home Delivery.
- Items checked out through Home Delivery have the same loan periods as regular checkouts. See loan rules »
- Deliveries are made weekly of available items you have placed on hold. Log in now to add new holds and manage existing holds »
Are there any related fees?
- No, there is no charge for this service.
- Oak Park cardholders do not receive late fees for overdue materials.
- Replacement fees are charged for lost or damaged items.
‘I couldn’t exist without library books’
A version of the following story originally appeared in the spring 2016 edition of The Storyline, the library’s quarterly publication that connects readers with people, places, and possibilities.
At each stage in her life, Roselyn Gieschen has found a niche at the library. It’s where she took her children to develop their love for books, where she’s enjoyed exhibits by local artists, and where she found books to fuel a quilting hobby.
“You could just stay in the library forever because there’s so much to learn,” she said.
Since Gieschen stopped driving, her visits to the Main Library have grown rarer. But thanks to the library’s Home Delivery Service, this former schoolteacher and Oak Park resident since 1957 remains an avid library user.
“I couldn’t exist without library books,” she said. “They take me to whatever environment the book is set in, and I get to live in that part of the world for a while.”
Gieschen’s home is just one stop on the route that longtime library volunteers Bill Crozier and Donna Bobco (also a library employee in Materials Services) drive every Friday.
Working as a team to meet community needs
They work as a team—one driving, the other lugging bags of books, DVDs, and magazines between the car’s trunk and patrons’ front doors. And while they make deliveries to Oak Park’s north side residents, another two volunteers tackle the south side route.
Most often, new bags are exchanged for old ones at patrons’ front doors. But at Gieschen’s building one Friday in December, they delivered the items in person. After a warm welcome and offers of just-baked peanut brittle, Gieschen opened her bag and pulled out a hardcover book: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. “I’ve been waiting for this one!” she said.
Getting great recommendations
Gieschen said that while she had been waiting for the novel to arrive, which her book club was set to discuss the following week, a library assistant gave her a book of Doerr’s short stories to read in the meantime.
“So I got a flavor of what the author is like,” Gieschen said. “The suggestion was wonderful.”
While some participants request specific titles, others describe authors or genres they enjoy, and staff and volunteers take it from there.
Each week, about 150 items—mostly print books, but also audiobooks and DVDs—go out to about 50 people.
