| LIBRARY STORY
remoteLockers for a Fantastically Active Community: Carmel Clay Public Library
March 18, 2025
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If one were to imagine a community painted by Norman Rockwell but updated to modern times and sensibilities, alongside current technology and the corresponding activities of a bustling, diverse population, one might imagine Carmel, Indiana. Infinitely charming, walkable, and bikeable, this small city twenty miles north of Indianapolis perfectly balances small-town comfort with metropolitan flair.
Awards and accolades in recent years include honors for being the best city in Indiana to live and visit; for having the best holiday market in North America (Christkindlmarkt, an extravaganza that draws visitors from great distances); for being remarkably bicycle friendly; and for having one of America’s cutest main streets.
Visitors and residents enjoy abundant festivals and markets that are heavy on the arts, featuring food and drink, music and movies, history and culture, and seasonal celebrations for every taste. It serves up bountiful culinary delights in its thriving restaurant scene, reflecting an array of countries too many to list.
Not only does Carmel proudly offer outstanding public schools, it offers plentiful trails, playgrounds, and greenways. A haven for healthy lifestyle and outdoor recreation enthusiasts, it contains over seven-hundred acres of certified wildlife- and habitat-friendly parks and greenways, including the 40-acre River Heritage Park with overlooks of the White River.
Strolling its main street and surrounding areas, it is immediately clear that Carmel is also aesthetically unique in its installation of more than twenty realistic sculptures, by artist Seward Johnson, of people of all ages doing everyday things. Dotting the sidewalks and other shared spaces, these life-like, life-sized renderings lend a feeling of hominess.
It is fitting that the most recent addition to this collection of public art depicts a woman sitting on a bench with her feet pulled up as she reads a book, as this sculpture reflects the devotion of the Carmel community to its library.
Carmel Clay Public Library is a leader in public libraries and raises the bar for excellence in service and materials. Originating in 1904 as a Carnegie library, its mission today is to inspire lifelong discovery, facilitate collaboration, and connect people with resources, while its vision seeks to support a diverse community of people committed to lifelong learning, an enhanced quality of life, and enriching social and cultural experiences.
These ideals are brought to fruition through robust library programming, broad collections, beautiful spaces, and vibrant outreach – all thanks to its knowledgeable and dedicated staff.
Serving a population of 100,000 and boasting an impressive 72,000 cardholders, the library operates from two locations: a recently renovated Main Library and the Joyce Winner West Branch. Both locations offer plentiful services, materials, and tools for exploration and inspiration, such as a digital media lab; an exploration lab for children; a gadget library from which a karaoke machine, telescope, and other unique items may be borrowed; an Art Wall featuring works for sale by local artists; a bookstore supporting the library foundation and library friends; and a coffee shop. The Main Library is also home to a galivanting gecko named Arlo, who became even more famous to library devotees after going missing during renovations (read on to learn about his mysterious travels).
The library loans over two-million items per year and goes above and beyond to ensure that materials are at patrons’ fingertips, with drive-up and walk-up returns, curbside pickup, and 24/7 holds pickup lockers. Located in the parking garage at the Main Library and available 24-hours a day, the remoteLockers became so popular after installation that the library added more lockers to the unit. With plans to install remoteLockers at its branch and possibly other locations in Carmel, the library will make it even easier for patrons to pick up materials at times that are convenient for them.
The remoteLockers were included in the designs for a large-scale renovation to the Main Library post-pandemic, explains Denise Maxey, Circulation Department Specialist, and were sought as an option for patrons to pick up materials. “We were offering Curbside service to our patrons, as most libraries were, and we weren’t sure if we were going to continue that, so it only made sense to look into other options. We wanted patrons to utilize the library in whatever capacity they felt comfortable, and that is the main reason we looked at lockers.”
The library opted to install the remoteLockers inside of the new parking garage built as part of the renovation, and to continue to offer curbside pickup at its branch. The lockers have a dedicated parking space and have been so highly used that the library recently added more lockers to keep up with demand.
About the remarkably high use of the remoteLockers and of the library as a whole, Christy Walker, Communications Manager, says, “We are fortunate that the community heavily uses and really appreciates the library. It’s a well-educated community that highly values education, so we’re seen as a valuable asset. People use us through all walks of life, and we’re across the street from the largest high school in Indiana and get a huge influx of students every weekday afternoon during the school year. We hear from the community that they love the resources that we offer, they love the collections, and they love the staff.”
With the lockers located inside of the parking garage, Walker says, “If all you want to do is zoom in and get your holds, we’ve got a way that you can do that, 24/7. The people who live here are very busy, they have a million things going on. They don’t necessarily work in Carmel, so they have long commutes. They have families that are scheduled up to their eyeballs with activities, so they’re very convenience-driven. They want to be able to get what they want, when they want it, and they want to get it easily.”
Initially, library staff were apprehensive about implementing lockers, but they took to them quickly and saw the benefits of increasing access for the community, along with skyrocketing use. “I think in the beginning,” Maxey says, “it’s only natural when learning something new to be hesitant and nervous. But we feel comfortable with the technology, and we all enjoy using it. I would definitely say we’re very happy with what we have.
“I love working with the lockers,” she continues. “If that was my job full time every day, all day long, I’d be happy. It’s really exciting to be able to educate about and promote the lockers. I love making our patrons happy, and I love being able to provide as much service as we can to them in every way possible.”
When the lockers were implemented, Carmel Clay Public Library holds increased by approximately 30%, and when they added lockers to the unit, holds increased by another 30%. The lockers are full nearly all of the time, with locker pickups representing around 7% of holds and steadily increasing.
“Patrons really enjoy the convenience of the lockers,” Maxey shares. “We have repeat patrons every day, hence why we had to increase our capacity. It’s been a big help to add those extra towers. They provide 24-hour access, allowing our very busy patrons to access their holds when they want them, when they can come and get them, and not just while we are open.
“We also have four neighboring Hamilton County libraries whose patrons can become reciprocal borrowers here, and they are heavy users of our lockers, as well. It’s a big help not just to Carmel, but to all of Hamilton County.”
The remoteLockers are user-friendly and when library staff are loading them, they frequently show patrons how to use them, walking them through small learning curves, as with any new technology. “I’m so impressed with our seniors,” Maxey smiles. “They just dive into whatever we throw at them. They’re not afraid to use the lockers, and once we explain how to use them, we have seniors that use them every day, every week, every month.”
“It was nice to be able to dip our toes in with it here on site,” Walker adds. “To a library that might think ‘well, why would we even want to do it, if the only place we could put it is here at our library,’ we’ve discovered that it’s been convenient to have it here. Starting on site has been a great way introduce it and try it out, and to interact with patrons while they’re using it, and to see the potential for expanding it to other places in the community down the road.”
Among the many events and goings-on at Carmel Clay Public Library, all of which are wildly popular and fill up quickly, there is another popular attraction by the name of Arlo. A nine-year-old crested gecko who makes his home in the Children’s Department, Arlo went missing from a temporary enclosure during renovations to the Main Library and could not be found.
“We tried finding him, we looked for months,” Walker says. “Our director had a pet cam and we set it up, thinking maybe Arlo would come out at night. We finally had to break it to the community that, sadly, ‘he’s having adventures elsewhere at the same time as our adventurous summer reading program.’ Then, while we were helping parents to communicate this, he turned up again. He was just hanging out on somebody’s desk in the Children’s Department. He was a little dehydrated, so we had to bulk him back up, but he’s going strong.”
Instead of revealing his whereabouts to the people desperately searching for him for so long, Arlo opted to show up of his own accord after conducting his adventures.
“Some people were skeptical that it really was the same gecko,” Walker laughs, “but yes, it’s the same gecko.”
“There’s not a day when a child is not in front of Arlo’s glass container,” Maxey confirms, “looking for him, trying to find him. It’s exciting, we all love having him.”
At the end of the day, both Walker and Maxey are proud of how well the library connects with the community. “Demand is very, very high for everything we do,” Walker says. “Just the fact that we have a community that uses the library for lifelong learning all the time, we’re fortunate. We have a community that doesn’t question why libraries are important, or why they would need one in their community.”
Arlo agrees.
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