Library FAQs

Anyone can join the library, and babies can join as soon as they are born. Anyone joining under the age of 16 will require a suitable adult guarantor, usually a parent, legal guardian, or carer.

It doesn’t cost anything to join and borrow books, ebooks, and eaudiobooks. There may be a small cost to borrow other items such as audiobooks on CD or Playaway.

You will not have to pay overdue fees if you are under 16. If your guarantor gives us their email address, we can send a free email reminder before your books are due back, and another one if your items become overdue.

If we have your guarantor’s mobile number we can send SMS messages instead.  This will cost 10p per message if your books become overdue.

If you can’t get to your usual library you can return items to any library in North Lincolnshire. If you can’t remember what you have borrowed from us we will be able to tell you.

Please let us know as soon as possible if this happens and we will give you extra time to look for it. If you still can’t find it we will make a new one. We may have to make a small charge if you keep losing it.

If you accidentally damage a library book, please don’t try to repair it yourself, just tell us when you return the book.  If you have lost or mislaid a book you have borrowed from us, please let us know as soon as you realise.  We can renew the book to give you extra time to find it.

There is no charge for replacement in either case if the person who has borrowed it is under the age of six.  There may be a charge, at the discretion of the library service, if the person who has borrowed it is older than this, depending on the circumstances.

If you would like to borrow a book which we don’t have, we can try and get a copy for you.  There is no charge for this for customers under the age of 16.  If you are aged 16 or above, there is a charge of £1 per item if we need to buy a copy of the book for the library.

We will let you know when the book is ready to collect.  If you or your guarantor has given us an email address or mobile number, we will email or message you or your guarantor, depending on your preference.

You can use the computers in our libraries if your guarantor signs to allow you to do this. It is free to use a computer for the first 30 minutes and 60p for each 30 minutes after that.

There is a small charge for printing. Please ask the staff if you want to book a session on a computer. Children under the age of eight must have a parent or carer with them to use a library computer.

All babies and children are welcome in our libraries, no matter how noisy. Our libraries are lively community spaces, and there is no requirement to be quiet, unless you are using our study area in Scunthorpe Central, which is in a separate room.