Bartow Library items include:

• Books
• Books on CD
• DVDs
• CDs
• Magazines
• LTE Mobile Hotspots (see below for more details)

Search for available items in our online catalog.

• Most items check out for two weeks.
• If an item is not on hold for another patron, check out can be extended to four weeks.
• LTE Mobile Hotspots check out for two weeks and cannot be renewed.

Bartow Library owned items are fine free.

• When an item is 30 days overdue, it will be marked as lost and a replacement fee charged to the account. (This fee will be removed once the item is returned.)
• Please contact other libraries in the cooperative for their overdue policies.

A photo ID and proof of a Polk County address is required to get a library card.

Visit our Get a Library Card page for more details.

Bartow Library owned items can be returned to any Polk County library with a few exceptions:

• LTE Mobile Hotspots
• Interlibrary loans

These items may only be returned at the Bartow Library.

What To Do

We strongly believe that our resources and collection should be accessible to everyone, and we definitely don't want anyone to feel nervous or embarrassed to come to the library. 

If you still have the item: return it.

Bartow Library is fine free, so all lost or overdue fees are cancelled once an item is returned. Other Polk County libraries are also fine free, and most of the others change a lost fee to a reduced overdue fee when the item comes back.

If you have no idea where the item is: that's still okay.

We understand that much has probably changed between today and the last time an account was active. We work on a case-by-case basis to help people who want to use library resources but have accounts blocked by accumulated fines. Please contact the library and we will do everything we can to help.