Frequently Asked Questions

For a more in-depth explanation, see our page on Using the Library Catalog.

Here is a link to the CWMARS catalog. You can search the catalog for books available at any library in CWMARS, or narrow your search to titles available at the Westfield Athenaeum. 

Searching for a specific item? 

Type in the author, title or keyword of the item you are looking for in the search bar. Hit search.

Can’t find what you’re looking for? 

Use the drop-down menus on the catalog to refine your search, or to check other libraries. If you can’t find something in our network, you can request it through the Commonwealth Catalog or InterLibrary Loan.

Want to make a hold request or view items checked out?

Click “My Account” (top right hand corner) and login using your library card number and PIN/Password to place holds or see what is out on your card. If you need to reset your PIN/Password or have trouble logging in, please call the Athenaeum at 413-568-7833 during normal business hours so that we can reset it for you.

Borrowing eBooks with CW/MARS Library Card:

OverDrive

This network-wide collection of eBooks and audiobooks are free for library member use.  Titles in our OverDrive collection may be downloaded to a computer, transferred to a device, or accessed through an app on a smartphone or tablet.  To borrow or place holds on digital titles you need a valid library card.  More detailed information and links to the free software for OverDrive can be found at our digital catalog.

C/W MARS Overdrive help

Borrowing eBooks with Boston Public Library eCard:

All Massachusetts residents can get a Boston Public Library eCard. This will give you access to the Hoopla, Kanopy, and RBDigital websites and apps. Through these apps, you can download movies, music, comic books, and more for free.

To get an eCard, visit: www.bpl.org/ecard

eCards are available to anyone who lives, resides part-time to attend school, owns property, or works in Massachusetts. This service is made possible through the Boston Public Library and the Massachusetts State Budget.

If you need help with your Boston Public Library eCard, you must reach out to the Boston Public Library. You can email them at ask@bpl.org or call them at 617-536-5400.

Apps and Streaming Services available with a BPL card:

Hoopla

Hoopla is a library lending app. It allows you to download books, movies, music, TV shows, and audio books for free. There are no holds or wait lists in Hoopla. To use Hoopla, you need an email address, an internet connected device, and a Boston Public Library eCard account. Hoopla is available for both Android and Apple Products.

For more instructions on using Hoopla with your Boston Public Library eCard, look through their tutorials available here.

Kanopy

Kanopy is a video streaming service for quality, thoughtful entertainment. Find movies, documentaries, foreign films, classic cinema, independent films and educational videos that inspire, enrich and entertain.

For more instructions on using Kanopy with your Boston Public Library eCard, please see the instructions here.

RBDigital

RBDigital provides over 20,000 audiobooks and full-color popular magazines available to stream or download to mobile devices. Most magazines (English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese) are available with no waiting lists, no checkouts, and no limits.

Other eBook Resources (No Card Required)

Project Gutenberg – a collection of over 40,000 free ebooks available in a variety of formats including some audio recordings.  All Project Gutenberg titles are in the public domain or are licensed for free distribution.

ManyBooks – a collection of free ebooks in the public domain or licensed for free distribution.

LibriVox – free, volunteer read, audio books of public domain titles.

The Digital Reader – Reviews of dedicated ereaders as part of a blog about ereaders and ebooks.

CW/MARS cardholders may reserve a pass up to one month in advance by reserving online, calling the Reference Desk at 413-568-7833 x 4. Passes may be reserved for up to 24 hours. Some passes offer free admission, while others offer significant discounts to the museum.

To see our current offerings, reseve online and learn more about using the passes, please see our page on museum passes!

Funding for most passes is provided by the Friends of the Westfield Athenaeum.

Thanks to the generosity of the Westfield Academy, the Westfield Athenaeum has 16 desktop PC computers available for public use in the Reference Room. A library card is not required to use the computers.

We offer printing, scanning, copying, and faxing services to our patrons. Printing and copying are available for a cost of $0.25 a page for black and white and $0.50 for color. Scanning to an email or USB is free. Self-service faxing is available at a cost of $0.50 a page. Payment for printing, copying, and faxing must be made in small bills or coins. We can accept card payments with a $5 minimum.

Free public wireless internet is also available. The name of the network is “WhipCityFiber_WiFi” and users can access it with no password.

Our full computer use policy can be found here.

Additional Resources

Social Media Tutorials

Patrons may visit the library whenever we are open to use our self-service fax machine ($0.50 a page). We are only able to accept small bills and coins for the fax machine. Our faxing service is one-way – we cannot receive faxes.

If you are unable to make it to the Athenaeum during the hours that we are open, our librarians have put together a list of faxing services that you might be able to use to reach your faxing needs, many of which are accessible from home. We recommend you take a hard look at the services offered by these services on their websites, and choose the ones that are the best fit for what you’re looking for.

1. FaxScan24 – This is a popular service amongst local libraries, as it doesn’t require a login or account for the patron. Faxes can be sent by going to their website and sending a fax from any device. The cost for this service is $.99 for the first page, and $.49/page for additional pages.
2. Fax.Plus – This is an account-based system, but it does have a free option. Their free plan includes 10 pages of free faxing, and $.20/page for each additional page over the 10 pages. Faxing can happen through their apps or through email. They also offer additional plans for increased prices, but with increased page limits and decreased additional page costs.
3. HelloFax – Another account-based system, this offers a free account with 5 free pages, with $.99 for up to 10 additional pages, and $.20 for each page after that. Unlike Fax.Plus, they do not have a mobile app, but do offer email to fax services.
4. SRFax – This service does not have a free account option, but they offer a basic plan that starts at $3.29/month and includes 25 pages/month, with $.10/page for each additional page.
5. West Springfield Public Library, 200 Park Street, West Springfield MA, open M-W 9am – 9pm, Th-Sa 9am – 5pm.

This information just scratches the surface of faxing services available for anyone. We cannot promote a specific plan, but we do recommend taking a good look around to make sure that you’re getting the right option for you.

This list is not an endorsement of any particular faxing service, and pricing may change.

If you still have questions, feel free to call us at (413) 568-7833 or email us at reference@westath.org.

You can place items on hold, or request them to be held behind the desk until you can come pick them up. Sometimes items will be available in the building, and we’ll let you know if that is the case. If an item is currently checked out or only available from another library, it might take some time to arrive on our shelf. Once it does arrive, you’ll receive a notification through your communication method of choice letting you know it’s available. There are several ways items can be requested.

Give us a call!

If you know what you want, you can just give us a call and we can place the item on hold for you. We’ll let you know if it will be available right away or if you’ll need to wait a little bit.

Request the item through the catalog

Our online catalog and corresponding app make placing holds easy. For more information, check out our page on how to Use the Library Catalog. Using the catalog will give you the most up-to-date and accurate information as to what items are available and where. It does take a little time for us to pull holds or get them in from other libraries–if you want to know immediately if something is available, please do give us a call. 

Request the item through our form

During the pandemic, we streamlined our requesting system! If there’s a specific item you’re looking for, you can request it here. If you would like a librarian to pick out selections for you, you can fill out our Reading Adventure form. Find out more about the selection process on our Readers’ Advisory page!

No! Since 2020 the Athenaeum no longer charges late fees. Please return your items in a timely manner – as long as your items are returned in good condition, you don’t worry about having to pay!

There are a few exceptions to this rule:

• If an item belongs to another library, we cannot guarantee that the other library has a similar policy to ours. You may be charged late fees for late items belonging to other libraries. While each library in CW MARS can share items with other patrons, each library sets their own policy on whether they charge late fees, how much, and so on.
• We do charge patrons for damaged, destroyed or lost items. We can only accept cash or check for these items at this time.
• When items are overdue, you will receive an email notifying you if they have been automatically renewed. Once an item is more than thirty (30) days late, you will receive a notice in the mail warning you that the late items will be considered Lost. When an item is Lost, you will not be permitted to borrow items until the item is either returned or paid for.
• If an item is damaged, destroyed, or lost, we cannot accept replacements purchased elsewhere (i.e. through Amazon or a local bookstore). This is in part because of the way our system interacts with the larger CW MARS coalition of libraries. We do not set the prices we charge – they are set by our vendors. We apologize for the inconvenience.

You can borrow a maximum of 50 items on one library card. Within that 50 item limit, you can borrow a maximum of 20 DVDs.

If you have any other questions about our lending policies, please check in with the circulation department!

You can! Thanks to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, we now have ten hotspots that are available for patrons to check out. Currently, these hotspots are all lending on a first-come, first-serve basis to Massachusetts residents with an active adult library card. They are available to be checked out for two weeks, with one automatic renewal. All hotspots must be checked out and returned at the Westfield Athenaeum.

Any additional questions? Check out our page on how to use the hotspots once they’re checked out.

You can! Thanks to an amazing donation, Currently, these Chromebooks are all lending on a first-come, first-serve basis to Massachusetts residents with an active adult library card. They are available to be checked out for two weeks, with one automatic renewal. All Chromebooks must be checked out and returned at the Westfield Athenaeum’s Reference Desk.

Any additional questions? Check out our page on using the Chromebooks here.

The Athenaeum will receive donations of material as space allows. Our guidelines for donating materials are:

• We only accept donations at the Adult Circulation Desk during library hours. Please do not leave donations outside when the library is closed, and please do not leave donations in the library returns drop box.
• We will accept donations of gently used books, CDs, DVDs and jigsaw puzzles. All items should be intended for adults, not for children or teens. 
• Donations are limited to one bag or box at a time. 

We cannot accept donations of the following:

• Textbooks or encyclopedias 
• Magazines 
• Cassette or VHS tapes, LP records, games, or toys 
• Children’s books 
• Musty, moldy, dirty, or damp items. Items in this condition are not safe for the library or your home. Just throw them away! 

If you have a larger number of items or things that we can’t take, you might consider donating them to the Salvation Army Thrift Store & Donation Center, 223 E Main St, Westfield.

For more information about the materials we add to our collection or accept for donations, please see our Collection Development Policy on our policies page. If you’re looking for information on historical items, please visit our archives page. 

We greatly and truly appreciate that members of the community would like to offer their time to the Westfield Athenaeum! However, due to a variety of reasons we are currently not accepting volunteer assistance.

Food and drink (preferably in covered containers) are allowed in certain areas in the Athenaeum, including by the magazines in the Reference Room, and the Study Area (in the portion of the mezzanine that used to be the Teen Loft). No food or drink is allowed by any of the computers in any section of the library.