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Find, reserve, renew

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Find, reserve, renew

Essential maintenance on the Library Management System

You can once again reserve books from any Camden library.

Due to recent maintenance work which is ongoing you will not be able to reserve books from library authorities that are part of the SELMS consortium until further notice.  We apologise for any inconvenience caused and we will update as soon as possible.

Search the catalogue
 

Reserving items

Our full reservation service is available. Items from all of Swiss Cottage Library's collection are available again to reserve from our catalogue. 

Reservations are free for items in Camden's stock. Customers are now limited to four of these at a time. 

To reserve an item, find the book you want in our catalogue and then click on 'place reservation'. You need to have a library card to reserve books.

At the moment, you cannot reserve books from the SELMS libraries. 

You can also log in to your library account.

Renew your library items

Renewal dates

Loans are usually for three weeks, but we give borrowers extended loan periods for bank holidays. 

Items returned late now incur overdue charges

Note that if someone else has asked for the book, you cannot renew it and can only renew your items four times before you have to bring them back to a library. 

You can renew:

  • renew online
  • by phoning 020 7974 4001. Automated renewals available 24/7. Operators available 8am to 6pm

New PIN:

Please remember:

  • if another user has asked for the item, you can't renew it and should bring it back to the library
  • if it hasn't been requested, you can renew up to 4 times. To renew a 5th time, items must be returned to a Camden library and re-issued
  • if you are renewing audio items there will be a re-hire fee
  • fees and fines are recorded on your account
  • you can’t renew items online if your library card has expired, if you have an item that is more than 10 weeks overdue, if you have an item which has been reserved by another user, or if you owe more than £5 in unpaid fines or other charges.

Pre-overdue email reminders

You can set up your account to receive pre-overdue email notifications from us – follow this online procedure:

  • Go to your Library Account page. Type in your Borrower ID and PIN, and then click on Login.
  • This will take you to a page headed Welcome. From the menu headed My account, click on Personal details.
  • Scroll down to Other details. Go to Loan due reminder, and choose your preferred reminder period from the drop-down menu.
  • In order for this to take effect, enter your PIN (under Current PIN, near the bottom of the page).