Books, Magazines, Movies, and More

Your library card gives you access not only to the Fort Plain Free Library's own collection, but also to thousands of other titles available via the member libraries of the Mohawk Valley Library System (MVLS) and Southern Adirondack Library System (SALS). Browse online for books, movies, audiobooks, and magazines, and pick up your requests at the library of your choosing. Need a little more time to finish your book? Renew it online, and use the reading history and lists features to keep track of what you've read and what's up next. Click the button below to get started, or scroll down this page for more details.

Using the Online Catalog

Access the library catalog at pac.sals.edu, and use the search bar in the center of the page to browse for titles. Once you've found something you like, click "Place Request" to have the item delivered to your local libary. When it arrives, we can notify you by email, phone, or text message, and you can pick up the item at your convenience. For more information on using the catalog, click the buttons below, or check out our guides to useful features at the bottom of this page.

If you are having difficultly finding a particular item, there are several ways to fine-tune your search results:

The drop-down menus below the search bar allow you to search for particular kinds of items--only magazines, for instance, or only items that are currently checked in.
The "More Search Options" button, located below these menus, allows you to further restrict your results--for instance, by only searching for books located at a particular library, or only books published in a certain decade.
Finally, if you would like to search by several fields at once (for example, title and author), click the "New Search" menu at the top of the page, and select "Advanced Search." This is especially useful for books with very short or common titles.

From the main page at pac.sals.edu, click the “My Account” drop-down menu at the top of the page, and then select “Items Out.”
On this screen you can see the items you currently have out, their due dates, and the number of times they can be renewed. To renew items, click the check box for each item you would like to renew on the left, and click “Renew Selected Items” at the bottom of the page.
Occasionally, items that have been requested by other patrons will not be available for renewal, even if they still display potential renewals remaining. Please call the library at 518-993-4646 if you have any questions about your items!

There are several ways to be notified when your items are ready for pickup: via email, phone, or text message. To change your notification preferences, click the "My Account" menu at the top of the page at pac.sals.edu, select "My Record," and then select "Contact Information and Preferences."
Items are held for ten days after arriving at the library, so don't worry if you can't come in right away! If you need an item to be held for longer than ten days, or if you would like to cancel a request that has already shipped, please call the library at 518-993-4646.

What is my username and password?

Your username is your library card number. If you have a Fort Plain library card, this number is located on the back, directly beneath the barcode.
By default, your password is the last four digits of your phone number. If you would like to change it, go to the catalog at pac.sals.edu, click the "My Account" drop-down menu at the top of the page, and select "My Record." After logging in, select the "Change Logon" option to create a new username or password.
If you are unable to log in, or need any other assistance with your account, please call the Fort Plain Free Library at 518-993-4646.

How to...

Track Your Reading History

Your library card makes it easy to remember which books you've read! Access your reading history at any time to view a complete list of items you've previously checked out.

Reading history is an optional feature, and is turned off by default. If you would like to activate this feature, go to pac.sals.edu, click the "My Account" menu near the top of the page, and select "My Record." Next, click “Contact Information and Preferences,", and check the “Maintain Reading History” box (near the bottom, on the right). Hit “Submit Change Request” at the bottom of the menu to save your preferences.
Once your reading history has been activated, it can be viewed by clicking "My Account" and then select "Reading History" from the menu.

How to...

Read Excerpts, Find Related Authors, and More

Want to sample a book before checking it out? Looking for authors with a similar style to the one you just read? Our catalog can help!

When searching for items in the catalog, you can click the "More Information" button next to any of your search results to see more details about them, including plot summaries, excerpts, and reviews from critics and fellow readers. You can also find links to works by the same creator, as well as lists of similar titles and authors that you may be interested in.

How to...

Locate Items at Your Local Library

If you'd like to find something that you can pick up right away, there are multiple ways to locate items in your local library!

Clicking "More Search Options" below the search bar will allow you search the catalogs of specific branches, rather than the entire system (for instance, to find out if the Fort Plain Free Library owns a particular title, you would select only Fort Plain from the list).
You can also see which libraries own a particular title, and how many copies are currently checked in, by searching for that title and then clicking "Availability" to the right of your search results.
Finally, if you would like to send an item to a different library than you normally use, click "Place Request" to the right of the title, and then select the library where you would like to pick up your item from the drop-down list. Items can be returned to any library within the MVLS system, so you never need to worry about returning them to the wrong place.

How to...

Request Items in Advance

Sometimes you might want to request an item, but not have it arrive right away--for instance, if you know you will want to read a certain book while on vacation, but don't need to check it out two months early.

After locating your item and clicking "Place Request," you can use the "Activation Date" field to choose when your request will become active. (Note that popular titles may have a waiting list. We suggest allowing at least a week for your items to arrive).
If you want to remember an item but don't need to request it at the moment, you can keep track of it with the "My Lists" feature! Simply click "Add to List" to the right of the item's search result, and access and modify your lists later via the "My Record" page.