Welcome to the Van Buren District Library

Locations in Bangor, Bloomingdale, Covert, Decatur, Gobles, Lawrence, and Mattawan, Michigan, USA

• New Home Page
• Locations and Hours
• Library Services Available
• VBDL Catalog
• MeLCat Interlibrary Loan
• Local History/Genealogy
• Web Sites of Interest
• Internet Users' Group
• Friends of the Library

Locations and Hours

        David Tate, Director    dtate@vbdl.org

        Voice (269) 423-4771    Fax (269) 423-8373

Fall Library Hours in Decatur begin 9/08:

Monday    9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Tuesday   9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Wednesday 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Thursday  9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday    9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday  9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

• Antwerp Sunshine Library (Mattawan)
• Bangor Branch Library
• Bloomingdale Branch Library
• Covert Branch Library
• Gobles Branch Library
• Lawrence Branch Library

Library Services Available

• The Van Buren District Library owns more than 180,000 items including books, magazines, audio books, and videos.
• More than 11,000 eBooks are also available to Van Buren District Library patrons. Users must first create an account at any library location. Then, the electronic books may be read online at the library or downloaded to a home computer for a six-hour "check-out period."
• Over 35 friendly employees are available at seven locations to help patrons find the materials they need.
• The On-line Card Catalog also is available at http://www.vbdl.org. This continuously updated database is easy to search by author, subject, or title as well as a powerful combination search function.
• Over 1000 new items are ordered each month.
• VBDL participates in the MeLCat, state-wide interlibrary loan system, and is a member of the Woodlands Library Cooperative. You can interlibrary loan many out of print books and other special items by visiting the Michigan Electronic Library. You will need your VBDL library card number for interloans from MeLCat and your Michigan driver's license or Michigan ID number to use the site's databases.
• Library cards are available free to residents of VBDL's service area.
• A large local history and genealogy collection is maintained in the Local History Room at the Webster Memorial Library Building in Decatur. The Bess Britton One-Room Schoolhouse Collection was recently added to these materials. The Local History Room also houses another 600 plus items from the Van Buren Regional Genealogical Society (VBRGS).
• Children's services include summer reading club, pre-school story hours, babysitting classes, and other special programs. The 2008 reading club will be "Catch the Reading Bug" and may include backyard critters and gardening.
• Adult book discussion groups meet regularly in Bloomingdale and Bangor; and an adult writer's group meets in Lawrence.
• In-house Internet information access is available at all locations. Sessions are divided into 30 minute blocks and parental permission is required for students under the age of 18. Parents are responsible for discussing on-line safety with their children.
• Word processing and educational computer games are also available. Work may be saved to floppy disks, CD-Rs, or portable USB drives.

Web Sites of Interest

Disclaimer: The World Wide Web is a dynamic, ever-changing medium, and as such, the Library and its agents claim no responsibility for content of the following links or subsequent links.

• Michigan Electronic Library
• Bestselling Books via Publishers Weekly
• The Book Mark File: over 500 links to information and entertainment.
• The Romance Reader and The Mystery Reader.
• Van Buren County Community Center, Information
• Van Buren Regional Genealogical Society
• West Michigan On-Line

Internet Users' Group

• All area computer users are invited; no pre-registration is required.
• Meetings normally are held the second Saturday of each month at the Webster Memorial Library in Decatur. There will be no July, August, and December meetings. The September meeting is on a third Saturday this year (September 15, 2007).
• Members share discoveries, troubleshoot technical problems, and do demonstrations. Sometimes guest speakers are invited.
• Please watch this page for news of our next meeting.

Friends of the Library

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