Library reservations and requests

Library reservations and requests

You may reserve any book or other item listed on the library catalogue we share with Westminster.

If the item is available for loan, the item requested will be reserved for you straight away and you will be notified when it is available for collection. If the item is unavailable for loan (for example it is on loan to another borrower) you will be notified as soon as the item has become available for collection.

For more information about our library fees and charges, please visit our Borrowing, loans and fines page.

Reserved items, including spoken word, will be held for collection for up to 14 days, DVDs and CDs for up to seven days.

Please note: If we are unable to satisfy your reservation after 90 days, it will be automatically cancelled.

If the item you want is not in our library catalogue, you can request it. We may be able to purchase a copy if it meets our requests purchasing criteria and is available from our contracted library supplier.

Tip: Please check your borrower account for status updates about your request.

Please note: there is a charge for placing reservations - £1.10 (or 65p concessionary rate). This is an administrative charge, and it will be incurred as soon as you place a reservation and will be payable regardless of whether we are able to supply the item or not. 

Requests purchasing criteria

Fiction

We will generally purchase a requested general interest adult or children’s fiction title that is not already in stock, provided the item is in print and available from our contracted library supplier and the RRP is not more than £30.

Non-fiction

We will generally purchase a requested general interest adult or children’s non-fiction title that is not already in stock, provided the item is in print and available from our contracted library supplier, the request is received within 18 months of publication date and the RRP is not more than £35.

Please note: We will generally purchase an additional copy of any title that meets these criteria if there are more than four outstanding reservations per copy.

CDs and DVDs

Due to declining demand, we do not purchase CDs or DVDs to satisfy customer requests.

Reserving books online

Reservations can be placed on an individual title or on a set of titles.

Simply log in to your library account, and once you have found the book you would like to reserve on the catalogue, press the yellow 'Reserve' button. You will be asked to choose the library you would like to pick up the book from, click 'OK', and then if you look in the 'Holds' section of your account, you will see the title displayed there.

You will be contacted once it becomes available.

Reserving books over the telephone

Please call the Librariesline on 020 7361 3010 to reserve items over the phone. Please have your library card to hand.

Reserving books in person

You can go into any library branch to reserve a book in person. You will need your library card with you.

Cancelling reservations

To cancel reservations:

Log in to your library account and look in the “Holds” section. Check the yellow box underneath that says 'Cancel Hold(s)'. A pop-up box will appear asking if you are sure: tick 'Yes'.