Wellington City Libraries

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Find what you can borrow, how long you can borrow it for, and how much it costs.


Loan periods & charges

Borrowing charges and loan periods at Wellington City Libraries
Loan period Adult card Children & Teen cards Out of Towner cards with Leisure Card discount
Books 3 weeks Free Free $2 Free
Magazines 1 week 50c 50c $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.

Select DVD collection

Select Collection Sticker Logo

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 at the link below about our due dates policy, email reminders, payments and lost items:

Payments, lost items and due dates

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, apart from Arapaki Manners Library, have after-hours return slots.

Discounts

Leisure Card Holders

Wellington City Council's Leisure Card is a free personalised membership scheme that gives discounts (see table above) to a range of recreation services.

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

Yes. 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

We can send you automatic reminder emails both before and 5 days after your items are due. To make email your preferred notification method, fill out our email notices request form.

If a notification bounces back, we will contact you via our automated phone system or by post.

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.

Renewing items

You can renew your item(s) for two more loan periods (for example up to 6 weeks for books, 2 weeks for CDs & DVDs) from the original due date, unless it has been reserved by another customer.

Two renewals per item is possible, and this can be done when you check your card online, or by asking a librarian for help in our libraries.

Please note that if the item being renewed had a rental fee when first loaned (e.g. DVDs), additional rental fees will be charged to you when you renew it. If the item being renewed did not have a rental fee when first loaned (eg books), then the renewals are free.

Reserves, Interloans & Suggestions To Buy

Follow the links below to find out about how to:

Concession cards

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!

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

Contact us

For more information about our borrowing services please e-mail us at enquiries@wcl.govt.nz or phone your local branch.

Search our Catalogue and check whether an item is on our shelves before you come into the library.

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