Find and reserve library items

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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.

You can also reserve books from the SELMS libraries or request other inter-library loans. 

Note that there is a cost for these, as follows:

  • Reservations from SELMS libraries - £3.00
  • Other inter-library loans - £6.50 (minimum charge)

For more information about our libraries during this period, see Changes to the Library service.

You can also login to your library account.

Renew your library items

Renewal dates

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

Items returned late now incur overdue charges

Note that you 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 - 6pm

New PIN:

Please remember:

  • 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).