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Lending periods and fees

Find out about borrowing books, AV materials and more, as well as theirs costs and how long you can borrow them for.

Photo of a self issue machine.

Loan periods & charges

Loan periods & charges
Item Loan period Adult card Children and Teen cards Out of Towner card with Leisure Card Discount

Books

3 weeks

Free

Free

$2

Free

Magazines

1 week

50c

Free

$2.50

50c

Zines

3 weeks

Free

Free

$2

Free

Children and Teen Magazines

1 week

50c

Free

$2.50

50c for Adults, Free for Children

Music CDs

1 week

Free

Free

$2

Free

Vinyl

1 week

$1

$1

$3

50c

DVDs

1 week

$4

$4

$6

$2

Children and Teen DVDs

1 week

$4

80c

$6

$2 for Adults, 40c for Children

Select collection DVDs

3 days

$4

$4

$6

$2

Boxset DVDs

3 weeks

$8

$8

$10

$4

Children and Teens Boxed DVDs

3 weeks

$8

80c

$10

$4 for Adults, 40c for Children

Kits (Cassettes or CDs)

4 weeks

$1

$1

$3

50c

Children and Teen Kits

4 weeks

$1

Free

$3

50c for Adults, Free for Children

Audiobooks on CD

4 weeks

Free

Free

$2

Free

Children and Teen Audiobooks on CD

4 weeks

Free

Free

$2

Free

CD Language Kits

4 weeks

$3

$3

$5

$1.50

Māori & English Language Learning AV

4 weeks

Free

Free

$2

Free

Some notes:

  • Māori & English Language Learning AV includes CDs, CD-ROMs, Cassettes, Kits and all of the the Adult Learning collection.
  • A boxset DVD is defined as more than 300 viewing minutes.

More information

Select DVD collection

Our Select DVD collection is designed to make it easier to borrow heavily used and reserved audiovisual material. The titles in this collection:

  • Have a reduced loan period of 3 days, meaning you can access the most popular DVDs faster for the same price and find them on the shelf more often.
  • Cannot be reserved - so are more immediately available.

Look for the logo on the right to identify these items.

Payments, lost items and due dates

Find information here about our due dates policy, email reminders, payments and lost items.

Returning items

Although we encourage items to be returned at the branch you borrowed them from, you can return your items to any library branch at no charge. Items returned after closing time are processed the next working day.

After-hours returns

All our libraries have after-hours return slots.

Discounts

Leisure card holders

You can qualify for the card if you are a Wellington city resident (you live or pay rates in Wellington City) and if you meet one or more of the following criteria:

  • You are a Community Services Card holder.
  • You have a permanent disability.
  • You are on the green prescription (GRx) scheme.
  • You are a Wellington City Council Housing tenant.

More information about applying for a Leisure Card.

If you have a Leisure Card:

Visit the library, show your Leisure Card to our staff, and staff will set your card to apply these discounts automatically (see table above)

Please note: Some of the qualifying criteria you will need to confirm on a yearly basis - discount status on your library card will be set to expire yearly, until you bring in your new Leisure Card.

Super Gold Card Holders

If you are a Super Gold Card holder and you live or pay rates in Wellington City, all you need to do to apply the Leisure Card discount to your library card, is to visit the library with your Super Gold Card.

The discount will then be applied to your card permanently (you don't need to apply for a Leisure Card to get the library discount, if you're not interested in doing so).

Borrowing Limits

You can have up to 150 items issued at any time and up to 100 items on reserve. This is to address Wellington City Libraries' customers' demand.

Email notices

You can get automatic email reminders (3 days before the item due date), if we have your email in our system. If you would like to make sure you will receive our Courtesy Reminders please email us.

Inter-library returns

Due to the closure of the Central Library, items borrowed from our libraries can be returned at any branch without incurring an inter-library return fee. Returning items to the library you borrowed them from means they are back on the shelves sooner, for others to borrow. It means we can provide a more efficient service so that you get the most out of our libraries.

Concession Cards

Are you a regular borrower from our libraries or do you frequently reserve library items?

Library Concession Cards are available for purchase at your nearest branch and are ideal for customers who borrow selected items regularly.

The cards are valid for one year from the purchase date and are available from your local library. Community Services and Leisure Card discounts do not apply.

Save yourself time and money - or gift them to other library lovers!

Concession Cards
Item Price and amount of issues

Boxed Set DVDs

$40.00 for six issues, including one free.

DVDs

$40.00 for twelve issues, including two free.

Children & Young Adults' DVDs

$16.00 for 24 issues, including four free.

Magazines

$10.00 for 24 issues, including four free.