As VCU starts the new school year with new health and safety precautions, VCU Libraries welcomes back Friends of VCU Libraries and VCU Alumni borrowers with temporarily expanded Front Door Pickup service. VCU Libraries has limited building access to protect the health and safety of our communities.

If you are a Friend of VCU Libraries or an alumni borrower, please do not come into our library buildings to borrow materials or use computers/printers. Friends and alumni borrowers must use this new Front Door Pickup service.

VCU alumni who register online and Friends donors at the $100 level or higher are eligible to receive these borrowing privileges and a VCU card. If you have not received your card, please allow several weeks for processing. Questions? Please contact Antonia FD Vassar.

To borrow materials, please follow these instructions for Front Door Pickup

  • Create an ILLiad account or login to an existing account via this page. Select “First Time Users” to create a new account.
  • Use the forms within ILLiad to submit a request for an item on the shelf  or in offsite  storage (don’t use the request link in VCU Libraries Search)
  • When the requested item is available, ILLiad sends an email (“Requested item has arrived” that includes a link to the online front door pickup calendar. You choose a date and time and call the library when you arrive at the front door. Your items will be brought out to you! Library staff will also give you any additional items waiting that have not been scheduled yet.

In the rare instance that a Friends donor or alumni borrower requires access to VCU Libraries’ unique physical research collections, they must request an appointment through Antonia FD Vassar. Appointment times must be scheduled in advance and are limited to weekday times between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors are required to sign a health attestation and must adhere to the same COVID-19 precautions as our students and employees. At this time, we cannot accommodate requests for access to computers or printers in our library spaces. Visitors with a scheduled appointment must comply with the following rules:

  • Face coverings must be worn in library buildings.
  • Adhere to physical distancing.
  • Food and drink are prohibited (except for a limited number of customers at the Starbucks located in Cabell Library).
  • Please stay home if you have a fever, cough, difficulty breathing, sore throat, chills, muscle aches, or have recently lost your sense of taste or smell.

Many Friends and supporters have asked about book donations and the status of  the Friends Book Sale. VCU Libraries is not accepting book donations at least  through the end of 2020. The 2020 book sale will not take place. There are still many ways to connect with VCU Libraries online via the Cabell First Novelist Award, Levis Reading Prize and other lectures, the Friends of the Library Book Club, and ongoing Community Zooms.

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