All Vermonters (including second home owners) may sign up for a library card free of charge. As of 31 March 2017 all applicants are required to show a current Vermont driver's license or state photo identification card, and proof of residency.  In addition to checking out physical library materials, your card give you access to eBooks, eAudiobooks, and much more.  Contact the librarian for more information.

You will need documentation of your Vermont street address. Examples are:

• Current Vermont driver license or state ID
• Mail you’ve received at your current street address in Dover (sorry, a P.O. Box doesn’t meet this qualification).
• A rental agreement or property tax statement
• Proof of business registration in the state of Vermont

With your library card, a patron may borrow materials, place reserves on circulating items, and request items through interlibrary loan. Other services, such as reference and use of public access computers, do not require a card. If you forget or lose your card, we can look up your account. 

Overdues

There are no fines for overdue materials, but there is a Late Box for voluntary contributions. We bill for damaged or lost materials, and there may be a processing fee.

Overdue Notices

An Overdue notice will be sent to patrons when their materials are overdue. If the library receives no responsible reply to this notice, it will be assumed that the loan materials are lost. A bill will be sent to the patron and library privileges will be suspended for the patron. Privileges will be reinstated upon settlement of the bill.

If there is something you want to read and we don't have it, and it is more than six months old, we can probably get it for you on interlibrary loan. We can also use interlibrary loan to find general information on a specific topic (after consulting our in-house materials). Most interlibrary loan requests can be filled in about one week, although some items may take longer. There is no charge for basic services, but out of state libraries consulted for hard-to-find items may charge fees. We do not request items out of state or incur any fees without the patron' s permission. Please remember that we cannot request new books on interlibrary loan; it violates state and national codes.

To obtain interlibrary loans, you may search the Vermont Automated Library System (VALS) yourself, or we will be happy to do the search for you. In either case, you will be asked to fill out an interlibrary loan form for each item requested. If we are doing the search for you, we need as much of the following information as possible: author, title, and date of publication.

In the case of an information request, we need detailed notes about what sources you have already consulted. A staff person will help you fill out the information request form.

Interlibrary loan service depends on cooperation among libraries. Patrons must pick up interlibrary loan items promptly and return them on time. Extensions are subject to the rules of the lending library and must be arranged one week prior to due date. Ideally, the items will be used within the given period.

DOVER FREE LIBRARY POLICIES – revised June 2013

1. Mission

The Board of Trustees adopted the following mission statement as part of its long-range plan for 2020-2022:

The Dover Free Library’s mission is to welcome community members of all ages and backgrounds to seek out lifelong learning experiences through reading, learning, thinking, technology, and discussion in a comfortable and friendly environment.