City’s library book lockers now available for use

The city has started its latest library concept with the installation

of book lockers around town. The library director announced that the lockers went live on Feb. 12.

Library Director Jason Shoup says the lockers will make life easier for community members.

“One of the ideas behind our new Library at the HUB @ Enchanted Hills was to bring city services closer to where our community lives. The new Library Holds Pick-up Lockers do this as well,” he said.

He added that people can locate the lockers at the HUB, Fire Station 2, Fire Station 3, and Cabezon Park. If people want to use the locker they would need to search for items in the library catalog, place a hold on the items they want, and select one of the hold pick-up lockers as a pick up location. Almost anything in the library — books, music, movies and audiobooks — can be delivered and checked out at the lockers. Then the library sends an email or will call when the items arrive.

To pick up the library materials, people will have to scan their library card barcode, select the items to check out on the screen, and the door for the items will pop open.

This service will be available 24/7 so people can pick up the items at any time of day on any day of the week.

“Rio Rancho residents will be able to access library services closer to their homes and at times that convenient to them,” he said.

Shoup says the library hopes that the lockers will allow more residents to access library materials in a way that “meets the needs of their lives and schedules.”

Additionally, some library patrons have already expressed excitement about the lockers, according to Shoup.

If the lockers do well, the city will consider adding more lockers around the community, but for now there are only a few.

“Rio Rancho is committed to providing an excellent quality of life experience for our citizens, and if more Holds Pick-up Lockers in more locations meets our community’s needs, you can be sure we’ll look closely at adding more,” Shoup said.

Shoup asks that the community give feedback about the lockers so the city can improve if needed.

“The library is excited for residents to try out the new lockers and to let us know what they think; we’re always eager to improve on the services we provide to our community,” he added.

Shoup also hinted that the city will get a bookmobile soon, as it was approved in the city’s budget.