USING YOUR LIBRARY

Email Notices

Would you like a quick, easy way to find out when your holds are ready to pick up? How about a reminder that your items are due? You can get all that through Email Notices.

How do I sign up?

Please make sure that your email account does not block the following email addresses:

mailserv@imcpl.org
holds@imcpl.org
reminder@imcpl.org

To sign up for email notices, you will need to log in to the My Account section of our web site using your library card barcode number and PIN. Once you have logged in, click on the link labelled "Profile."

On the Profile page, you will see a button labelled "Add Email Address". Click this button to open the email signup window. You will see a form with a text field for your email address. Please be sure to type in the complete email address (for example "webmaster@imcpl.org") and be sure that it is correct. Once you have completed the form, click the "Submit Address" button.

Once you have submitted this form, an automated confirmation email message will be sent to the email address you entered in the form. To complete the registration process, you will need to follow the instructions in this message. If you do not receive this automated message within 24 hours, please try re-registering your address.

If you are setting up email notifications for more than one patron account to be sent to the same email account, you will need to reply to each automated confirmation message to complete the registration process for all accounts. For example, if you are setting up email notifications for yourself and your two children, the system will generate three confirmation messages. You would need to reply to each of the three messages (you will see that they have different key code numbers).

If you ever need to change or delete your email address from our system, you can do so by logging in to the My Account section of our web site and returning to the Profile page.

What are Email Notices?

Email Notices are an optional way for you to be notified that items you have requested to be held for you have arrived at the pickup location. We also use email to send overdue and billing notices. Additionally, the library is able to send "reminder" notices. These reminders are sent three days before your item is due, the day the item is due, and five days after the due date.

This service offers several advantages over the standard paper mailers:

Notices get to you faster. It takes one or two more days for a paper mailer to reach your mailbox than it does an email message to reach your email account.
The reminder notices. Due to the cost of sending out paper mailers, we are unable to send out the "3 days before due", "day due" and "5 days overdue" paper reminder notices. The email reminders will allow you the chance to renew your materials or to return them, so you can avoid fines.
Reduction of the cost to the Library. Each email notice sent reduces the cost for us to send out the daily mail notices. In turn, this will allow us to use your tax dollars more efficiently.
Environmentally friendly. Each email notice sent reduces the number of paper mailers we must use. This can eventually reduce the number of trees used to produce paper mailers. Save a tree -- register for email notification!
Parental oversight. Many parents set up their children's accounts so that the children's notices are sent to the parents' email address.

Please be aware that this service replaces paper mailers. At this time we are not able to send both paper and email notices. Also, if you are unable to check your email regularly, this service may not be right for you. Holds that remain unclaimed for more than 7 days cause a $1.00 fine to be added to your account.

Will I get "junk" or "spam" mail if I sign up for this service?

IMCPL considers all patron information to be private and confidential. We do not release or sell any patron information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, or email addresses.

If you sign up for Email Notices, we will use your email address only for IMCPL library business.

How do I cancel email services?

You can remove your email address from our system and return to paper notices very easily. All you need to do is log in to the My Account section of our web site and go to the Profile page. You will see a button labelled "Change Email Settings" next to the email address you have listed in our system. Click this button and a new window will appear. Scroll down to the "Delete Email Address" button and click it.

What if my email address becomes unreachable?

Our system is designed to watch for "bounced" or "returned" email messages. When an email message is returned to us, we determine if the message is a "critical" message (i.e. a hold notice or overdue notice). In these cases, we generate a backup paper mailer and send it to you.

If there are too many email messages returned from your account, our system will automatically switch your account settings so that you will receive only paper notices.

What if my email address changes?

If you need to change the email address listed in your account, you can do so by logging in to the My Account section of our web site and going to the Profile page. If you have an active email address in the system, you will see a button labelled "Change Email Settings".

Updating your email address is exactly the same process for signing up for email notification in the first place: you enter your complete email address in the form and submit it. This generates an automated confirmation message which you will need to reply to as instructed.

If you need to change to paper mailers but do not want to remove your address from the system, you have the option to change your delivery method from email messages to paper mailers and back again. All you will need to do is select the delivery method (Paper or Email) and submit the Update form.

If you want to remove your email address from our system completely and get only paper mailers, you can do so by clicking the "Delete Email Address" button.

I have a hold listed as "Awaiting Pickup" in the Borrower Account area, but I did not get a notice. What's going on?

Our system runs a process at the end of each day that checks our system for items that have arrived at the pickup point during that day. When it finds an item that has just arrived, the system generates either a paper mailer or an email message. The next morning, these entries are checked and then sent.

If the item in question has arrived at the pickup point on the day you view it on the Holds page in My Account, our system has not run the notice generation process for that day.

Similarly, if you check out an item on the day that it arrives at the pickup location, no notice will be generated by the system.