Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library
Services 
Overview
The Library has books, magazines, audio and video cassettes, compact discs, DVDs, eAudiobooks, e-books, books on tape, books on CD, government documents, electronic subscriptions and databases, and computers for wordprocessing and accessing the Internet.
All these collections and services are provided to you with the value-added assistance of staff trained to help you find what you need. Many of the Library's materials can be borrowed for home use. If an item is not available when you visit the Library, you can request that item be held for you once it becomes available.
Staff Assistance
Staff will answer your questions in person or over the phone. If you need help with anything in the Library, please ask for assistance.
Catalog of Library Materials
You can find what the Library has by looking in the library catalog. The catalog also allows you to place reserves for materials online and to see what items you have checked out. To use the catalog most effectively, you should login using your card number and PIN before you search. More hints on the catalog.
Lending of the Collection
Most library materials can be borrowed for three weeks and renewed if needed. Mobile Library books are borrowed for four weeks. Renewals may be done by telephone or through the library catalog's My Account feature.
Requests for Items to be Reserved
If the item you want is not available when you visit the Library, you can reserve it so that it will be held for you when it is returned. You'll be notified by regular mail, telephone, or email when the material is ready for you. You can also check My Account to see if an item is ready for pickup. More info on Holds.
Library Cards
How to obtain a library card.
Library cards are free. Please bring your valid ID (driver's license, California ID, or student ID) when you come to get a library card. You may download the application 
and fill it out ahead of time. Parents have the responsibility to guide their children in the use of library materials. The Library allows everyone, regardless of age, to use its materials. Library staff can help you choose age-appropriate material when desired.
California law states that library borrower records are private. Staff may not tell anybody what you have checked out without your permission.
Please use your library card when borrowing materials, and tell us if you change your name, address, phone number, or e-mail address. You can access your account using your library card and personal identification number (PIN) either by telephone, through the voice automation system (209.937.7388 or 866.805-READ Toll Free outside Stockton in San Joaquin County) or through My Account.
Please return library materials on time and in good condition so that others may use them. You may return library materials to any of the branch libraries, the Mobile Library or the Central Library. You will be charged if materials are late, lost or damaged.
Literacy Services
Learning to read is worthwhile at any age. Literacy Services offers four programs to help out.
Adult Literacy is a free program to teach English-speaking adults to read. Reach Out & Read San Joaquin, in partnership with the Library & Literacy Foundation for San Joaquin County, provides doctors with books to give out at well child visits. Also, volunteers read to children in clinic waiting rooms. The Training Wheels program takes storytimes and other literacy activities on the road, visiting underserved areas of the County. Families Reading Together is a free early literacy workshop for parents and caregivers.
To learn more about these programs, call 209.937.7778 or visit the literacy services section of the Library web site.
Events & Programs
Programs for children, families, teens, and young adults, including storytimes, children's reading programs and special events, are held at many branch libraries. Schedules of events may be picked up at your nearest branch or viewed on the events section of the Library web site.
Photo credits: "Reading with Aunt Vern" photo by Tom-Tom at flickr.com - some rights reserved.