Books provided in city alert (6)
I believe the answer is:
notify
'alert' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'books provided in city' is the wordplay.
'books' becomes 'ot' (Old Testament).
'provided' becomes 'if'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'city' becomes 'ny' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'ot'+'if'='otif'
'otif' going inside 'ny' is 'NOTIFY'.
(Other definitions for notify that I've seen before include "Officially inform" , "Formally tell" , "Make known" , "Advise, apprise" , "alert" .)