Don’t let physical mobility issues, illness or lack of a car stop you from using the library. In addition to the library’s rich digital resources, you can also get books and other physical media with a new service.

The Cobb County Public Library is offering a Books by Mail service for Cobb residents who have mobility issues due to disability, long-term illness or lack of transportation.

The library posted the following description of the program, plus a link to register, on the county’s website:

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Cobb County Public Library is accepting applications for the Books By Mail service for homebound county residents. Books By Mail is for eligible Cobb library cardholders unable to visit libraries due to a temporary or permanent physical disability, long-term illness or a lack of transportation.

The Books By Mail service is now available. The items are delivered to Cobb library cardholders through the US Postal Service.

“Cobb library workers are committed to overcoming barriers of access for the community and opening opportunities of engagement to meet the needs of all we serve,” said John Willard, Cobb Library Collection Development Manager. “We are excited to introduce this service and look forward to the growth of Books By Mail to bring the library into even more homes.”

The new free library service provides up to four items for checkout at a time with a circulation period of nine weeks that spans the date of the request for the items through the due date. Any combination of books, books on CD and DVDs may be checked out. Only one batch of library items may be checked out at a time under the Books By Mail program. The library provides pre-paid return postage at no cost to the library patron.

The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved in February $21,600 of the county’s federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation to support the Books By Mail homebound outreach program.

To apply for the Books By Mail service and more details on how the service works, visit cobbcat.org/booksbymail or call 770-528-2343.

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About the Cobb County Public Library

According to the Cobb County Public Library website:

Cobb County Public Library is a 15-branch system headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, where its staff members serve a diverse population of over 750,000 people. Cobb is one of Georgia’s fastest-growing counties, and Cobb County Public Library is dedicated to being a resource center in the community by providing equal access to information, materials, and services.

History of Cobb’s library system

The first public library in Cobb County was opened in the home of Sarah Freeman Clarke in Marietta. The first standalone library building, opened on Church Street in 1893 and was named for Clarke.

Libraries were opened in Acworth and Austell in subsequent years, and in 1959, the city of Marietta and several other Cobb County libraries combined to form a countywide system that began the Cobb County Public Library as we know it today.

You can read more about the history of the Cobb County Public Library by following this link.