Library Closed on Memorial Day

Sun, 05/20/2018 - 2:21pm by TimG

All AADL locations will be closed on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28.

Regular Library hours will resume on Tuesday, May 29.

Suggest a title for the 2019 Washtenaw Reads!

Wed, 04/18/2018 - 8:56am by eapearce

**Suggestions for the 2019 Washtenaw Read are now closed. Thank you for your suggestions!**

The Washtenaw Reads program is a community initiative to promote reading and civic dialogue through the shared experience of reading and discussing a common book. Participating libraries include Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Milan, Northfield Township, Saline, and Ypsilanti.

Each year, a committee of librarians, teachers, bookstore owners, and members of the public gathers to read a variety of suggested titles and select one to be that year's Washtenaw Read. This year's theme is again simply "A Very Good Read," and can be fiction or non-fiction. The Read will take place in January and February 2019 and typically culminates in a visit from the author of the selected book.

Library Closed On Easter Sunday, April 1

Mon, 03/26/2018 - 11:59am by TimG

All AADL locations will be closed on Easter Sunday, April 1. Regular Library hours will resume on Monday, April 2.

New Features, and a new Bookable Room!

Fri, 02/23/2018 - 9:10pm by eli

The end of February is nigh, and we've been hard at work building more new features for the new aadl.org!

Downtown Freespace now Bookable Online

In addition to the Whiffletree and Lamplighter rooms on the 2nd floor of the Downtown Library, we've now made the AADL Freespace on the 3rd floor of the Downtown Library bookable online! You can book this room that seats about 32 at aadl.org/rooms after logging in with your library card. You can book it for 2 hours per day per card, up to 12 times per 365-day period. And, while this room used to require 2 weeks advance notice, now you can book it for tomorrow onward!  However, unlike our smaller meeting rooms, no same-day walk-in usage of AADL Freespace is available. Advance booking only!

Library Closed On Friday, February 9

Thu, 02/08/2018 - 4:42pm by TimG

Due to a National Weather Service travel advisory, all locations of the Ann Arbor District Library will be closed on Friday, February 9.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

New Feature: Freezable Requests!

Fri, 01/05/2018 - 5:54pm by eli

Thanks for all your patience throughout this week as we got the last data out of the old system! Requests have now been loaded and enabled, and we're thrilled to introduce a long-awaited feature, entirely appropriate for the weather we've been having: FREEZABLE REQUESTS!

What is a Frozen Request?

When you freeze a request, you'll keep moving up the line, but a copy will not be put on the holdshelf for you until you unfreeze the request. That means you can avoid too many things coming in at once, or freeze all your requests when you go on vacation!

When can Requests be Frozen?

You can freeze and unfreeze any of your requests at any time, except for requests which are in transit, or ready for pickup on the hold shelf. Once your request has hit the hold shelf, it's too late to freeze it.

How do I Freeze my Requests?

On your my account page, you can freeze or unfreeze any or all of your requests using the modify button. You'll see a spinner while your command goes through, and then the status will change to Frozen or Unfrozen.

How do I know what place in line I am when a request is Frozen?

For now, you can't see what place in line you are when a request is frozen. You can unfreeze and reload to check if you want to know. We'll be working on this as we see how patrons are using this feature!

I was #15 of 18 requests, but now it's ready for pickup, what happened?

What happened was that requests 1-14 were all frozen, so you were next! We expect this sort of thing may happen a lot for popular items with lots of outstanding frozen requests. We'll be working on ways to display this better and give you a better idea how close you are to the top of the queue once we have more data on how this is used by our patrons.

Just Contact Us if you have any questions about this new feature or run into any trouble! It's a whole new way to use your library, and we're excited to see how you make use of it!

Welcome to the new AADL.org!

Sat, 12/30/2017 - 4:54pm by eli

Welcome to the all-new AADL.org! We're still working on a lot of features and cleaning up webpages, but the new site is here at last!  Here are a few updates on where we're at, and what's to come this week and beyond.

Requests have been loaded, with NEW FEATURES!

With the new website, you can FREEZE or UNFREEZE your requests whenever you'd like, so long as they haven't yet hit the hold shelf.  When a request is Frozen, you'll keep moving up the line, but the item won't be hit the hold shelf for you until you Unfreeze that request.  Perfect for when too much stuff is coming in at once, or for when you go on vacation!  We're getting ready to start filling requests early this week, so stay tuned for that!

Call or Text Your Library, just one number!

You can always call us at (734) 327-4200, but now you can text us at that number too with your questions!  You'll get a response from library staff via text to your question, usually in just a few minutes!

New Bookable Rooms!

If you've used the Meeting Rooms at Westgate Branch, you know they're a hot commodity! So we've made two meeting rooms on the second floor of the downtown library bookable just like the Westgate Rooms.  The Whiffletree Room and the Lamplighter Room can now be booked online for up to 2 hours, a minimum of one day in advance. You can book each of these rooms 12 times in a 365-day period with your library card.  Get started booking these rooms right now!

Introducing AAMPS!

We've slowly been growing our collection of local digital music for download, and now we're thrilled to launch a single place to find it: AAMPS, the Ann Arbor Music & Performance Server! With great music you can download right now, and much more to come in coming months, we hope you'll find something great to listen to everyday.

A New Year's Surprise!

As part of the new system, we've waived any outstanding late fees on your account for items you've returned.  If you have overdue items that have been billed, those bills will be regenerated soon, unless, of course, you bring the stuff back first!

Many More Features to Come!

After the dust settles, there are a lot of great new features coming on AADL.org. Notifications by text, custom alerts and reminders, series holds and much more... once we get over this big leap we've just taken, we'll start making more useful features to save you time and effort every time you use the website.

Thanks for checking it out, and Thanks for Using your Library!

Holiday Hours

Thu, 12/14/2017 - 2:36pm by TimG

All locations of the Ann Arbor District Library will be closed on Sunday and Monday, December 24 & 25. Regular hours will resume on Tuesday, December 26.

All locations will also be closed on Saturday & Sunday December 30 & 31 and on Monday, January 1. Regular hours will resume on Tuesday, January 2.

AADL Earns Five Star Rating for 10th Year in a Row

Mon, 12/04/2017 - 4:33pm by richretyi

The Ann Arbor District Library has been named a five star library for the 10th year in a row in Library Journal’s annual rating of public libraries nationwide. The AADL is one of just 13 public libraries in the country to earn LJ's five star designation in each of the last 10 years.

Three other Michigan libraries received star ratings this year. Richland Community Library was named a Four Star library within its category, West Bloomfield Township Public Library received four stars, and Genesee District Library received three stars. Congratulations to our fellow Michigan libraries!

See the full list of libraries earning stars here.

AADL Will Be Closed On Thanksgiving

Thu, 11/16/2017 - 10:03am by TimG

All AADL locations will be closed on Thursday, November 23 for Thanksgiving.

Regular Library hours will resume on Friday, November 24.