They say the cheapest way to travel is by reading a book.

I know many summer vacations have been canceled or postponed. Even though some travel away from home is being allowed, many of us are still staying in as much as possible. So crack open a book and let your mind travel far, far away from the troubles of today.

Our libraries are offering Express Checkout service at all locations. You may request up to 10 items per transaction. You may place holds for items on your account online on our website at www.robesoncountylibrary.org or you may call our staff. We will pull the books for you and call you back when they’re ready. We will pack them up for you and place them on a table by the entrance for you to pick up.

All items are available to request but items from other locations will require additional time to retrieve. This service is available in Lumberton, Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Monday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at our branches. The phone numbers to each library are: Lumberton, 910-738-4859; Pembroke, 910-521-1554; St. Pauls, 910-865-4002; Maxton, 910-844-3884; Fairmont, 910-628-9331; Red Springs, 910-843-4205; and Rowland, 910-422-3996.

Our book drops are also open for you to return library books. We ask that DVDs be returned to bins just inside our entrances so that they are not damaged in the book drops. While we appreciate book donations, we are not accepting them at this time. Please do not put donations in our book drops.

If you have account questions, reference questions or need a library card, please call our staff or email us at [email protected]. If you need help with a genealogy question, you may send a request to [email protected].

We encourage everyone to continue to enjoy our digital libraries. Thousands of free digital resources are available with your library card. To use e-INC, go to e-inc.overdrive.com. To use NCKids Digital Library, visit nckids.overdrive.com. To use NCLIVE, visit nclive.org. We highly recommend using the Libby app to manage your digital library use. You may download the Libby app for free from your device’s app store. For more information about Libby, visit overdrive.com/apps/libby/. If you need help navigating our digital libraries, please reach out to our staff. We are happy to help you!

We hope that you all stay well. We miss you very much and look forward to when we can open our doors again. In the meantime, discover someplace new through the joy of reading.