CARTHAGE, Mo. — At the Carthage Public Library, I’m No. 13 on a reserve list for a new book by one of my favorite authors. Given a couple of slow readers, a couple of fast readers, I figure I will probably get to check it out in six to eight months.

I’ll not mention the author or the title — don’t want to put pressure on anyone.

It’s my fault I’m so far down the list. I forgot to take advantage of a great service the library offers. On its Web site, it lists all the new books it has on order along with the anticipated publication dates. Just click on “Book Lists” and in the drop-down menu, click on “Books on Order.” There are also lists of books that have arrived in the current month, and lists of best sellers, both fiction and nonfiction.

You can reserve books either by e-mailing carthage@carthagelibrary.org or by calling (417) 237-7040. I just got on the waiting list for six new books that will come out between now and next May.

The waiting list is just one of many services offered by the library. It has many local genealogy resources, including Jasper County census reports between 1850 and 1930, city directories dating to 1888, Carthage Senior High School yearbooks from 1913 to the present, several Jasper County histories and Daughters of the American Revolution lineage books. Mortuary records from Knell Mortuary (1884-1940) and Ulmer Funeral Home (1916-1952) are available, and you can search microfilm of Carthage newspapers between 1866 and 2005.

Should you need a book the Carthage library doesn’t have on hand, avail yourself of the interlibrary loan program. Just fill out a request form at the circulation desk, and pay a $2 handling and shipping fee, and the book will be in your hands within days. This service is especially valuable when you are looking for older and out-of-print books. I was pleased to find a fascinating out-of-print book through the loan program: “Old Frontiers: A Story of the Cherokee Indians from Earliest Times to the Date of their Removal to the West” by John P. Brown, published in 1938.

Using the library’s computers to access the Internet can link you to Newsbank, a database of Missouri newspapers, or EBSCOhost, a database composed of thousands of articles from journals, magazines and reference books. Or, you can log on to the Learning Express Library, which offers practice tests for positions in civil service, firefighting, law enforcement or real estate, or college placement exams — a real service for nervous juniors and seniors.

You can help support the above-mentioned services by shopping at the Friends of the Library’s used-book sale from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the library annex, 612 S. Grant St. There should be lots of bargains — and you won’t have to wait six months to read these books.

And on Wednesday, the McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital Auxiliary will hold its traditional Christmas breakfast at 10 a.m. in the hospital’s community room. Auxiliary members are asked to bring an item for the Carthage Crisis Center, preferably cleaning supplies, paper goods or trash bags.