Don’t live in a city where Chinese children’s books are readily available in your local library? Did you know that you can still get access to Chinese children’s books from your library?! Even Sagebooks (not the complete set though, if you do find it please share!)!?

Below are step by step instructions on how to do it!

Step 1: Go onto your local library’s website and sign into your account.

Step 2. Find the word LINK on the site. You may need to scroll down on some sites. Since each library’s website is different, below are three examples of where you may find LINK.

Step 3. Click on the books tab or type in the title/author you’re looking for in English or Chinese. You can even search by using ISBN numbers.

Step 4. If you’re using English titles or author to search for books, you can narrow down the results by selecting Chinese under Languages and Juvenile Literature under Topics. I found some Harry Potter books in simplified Chinese. Jeannie even found Sagebooks textbooks! *To know if a title is simplified or traditional, check the Chinese title.

Step 5. You can also widen your search by selecting Libraries Worldwide if the title doesn’t come up within your state. I was able to find Pete the Cat (皮皮貓-traditional Chinese name for the series or 皮特貓-simplified Chinese name for the series) and Elephant & Piggie (大吉象和小豬寶 traditional Chinese title for the series, or 小猪小象-simplified Chinese title for the series) books for my daughter through LINK.

Step 6. Click on the title you want to reserve.

Step 7. Click on the reserve button, a prompt will pop-up to have you enter your library card and password. You’ve now reserved the item and your library will contact you once it’s available for pick up. The downside is that at least for our library, it can take up to a month for the book to arrive. But I do live in rural Minnesota so it will most likely not take as long for you. Sometimes I’ve also had to reserve the title one more time. The other downside is that you can’t renew these items, but you’ll still get to check it out for three weeks.

Step 8. When you’re signed into your LINK account, you can also check the status of your requests/reservations.