Manchester City Library

We love greeting, talking with, and serving the hundreds of thousands of patrons who visit our libraries each year. But what about those days when you just can’t make it to the library? Can you still take advantage of our services? Of course you can! Got your library card? A smart phone, tablet or PC? Let’s take a look at what you can do from home, on the road, or even halfway around the world.

The collection at your fingertips

Let’s start with the basics. You can search our online catalog any time by visiting the library’s website: www.manchester.lib.nh.us. Request titles, browse for books by your favorite authors, or search for materials on any topic you like. You can also renew books you’ve checked out, and even pay fines for overdue materials—we know, it happens—using a credit or debit card.

Digital downloads

Interested in checking out something you don’t have to renew, and never have to pay fines for? Got a smart phone, tablet or PC? Check out the latest issues of some of today’s most popular magazines with Zinio for Libraries. Create an account, download the app, and you’re on your way. We also have eBooks for your Nook, Kindle or tablet, and digital audiobooks you can listen to on your phone or mp3 player, provided by OverDrive and CloudLibrary. Visit the Downloadable Books & Magazines page on the library’s website for more information.

Free or discounted trips to local attractions

Want to visit a local museum? Our museum passes might save you money, or get you in for free. View our list of passes and calendar to see what’s available.

“Learn a new language and get a new soul”—Czech proverb

Studying a new language for school, your own enjoyment, or a vacation or business trip? Transparent Language gives you over 100 languages to choose from, including English in over 25 native languages. Practice your listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and connect with other language learners.

Get book recommendations

Not sure what to read next? NoveList Plus and NoveList K-8 Plus allow both fiction and nonfiction readers to enter a favorite author, title, topic, or genre (for example: mystery, science fiction, or horror) to learn about other books they might enjoy reading. It’s the next best thing to asking a librarian for a recommendation. Okay, don’t tell anyone, but it might actually be better. We librarians read a lot, but we can’t read everything.

Research you can trust

Need to research a topic for school? Of course you can Google it, or look it up on Wikipedia. They’re great places to start, but when you’re ready for more, try EBSCOhost. With your library card and EBSCOhost, you can search for full-text articles in popular magazines—like Consumer Reports—peer-reviewed journals and newspapers, with special sections for health, business, education and professional development. Looking for something more local, like the New Hampshire Union Leader? NewsBank gives you access to the text of most articles going back to 1989. Unfortunately, this doesn’t include all obituaries, but we do have a way around that. Read on.

What’s Your Story?

Researching your family history? Do you enjoy watching Who Do You Think You Are? We have genealogy resources you can use to discover your own story. Heritage Quest Genealogy Online provides easy access to US Federal Census Records from 1790-1930; more than 25,000 family and local history books; an index to many local history and genealogy periodicals published since 1800, and selected records from the Revolutionary War Era Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files.

Looking for someone? Trying to get someone to look for you?

Looking for a new job? Don’t have a phone book for a distant city, but are looking for an individual’s phone number? Are you in sales, and looking for demographic data to generate leads? What do all these questions have in common? AtoZdatabases can handle them all. Give it a try!

Who needs a printer?

Printer at home broken? Out of toner? No problem. Print it out here at the library. Oh, the document is saved in your e-mail, but you can’t remember your password because your smart phone does it for you? Well, now you can print to the library’s printers from your phone, tablet, laptop, even from your PC at home. Simply sign up for wireless printing with your e-mail address and location, and then upload or e-mail a print job. Our server will hold it for up to six hours for you. Pages are $0.20 each for black and white, $0.35 for color. Available at the main library only.

This is just an overview of what you can do with your library without even setting foot inside our buildings. Watch our newsletter, blogs and Facebook page for more detailed tutorials and demos of all our digital offerings.

IMPORTANT: To take advantage of these great resources, you’ll need a current Manchester City Library card, as well as a PIN/password. Call 624-6550 or e-mail [email protected] for information on obtaining a library card, updating your existing card, or obtaining or resetting your PIN/password.