Borrowing Policy

March 2026

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to make sure that the resources of Christchurch City Libraries are accessible to all library members. Our responsibilities of kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga guide our decisions about fair access, so that we are caring for both people and collections.

Scope

This policy applies to all items available for members to borrow.

It gives the reasons for our decisions on how many items can be borrowed, how long items are issued for and what parameters apply for different memberships.

Our members

Library members can borrow items from our collections. Anyone can apply to become a library member. Council ratepayers and people living in Christchurch are entitled to free library membership. Current conditions of membership are published on our website and more information can be found in the Membership policy.

Our collections

1. Borrowing quotas

Our collections need to meet demand and our customers need fair access to them. To help ensure this we have a maximum number of items that members can borrow at a time.

Different types of membership determine how many items can be borrowed and how long they are issued for. You can find more information about borrowing quotas for each membership type in the Membership parameters table.

There may be limits on the number of items that you can stream or download from eResource platforms. You can find more information about individual eResources on our website.

2. Borrowing times

To be fair to everyone there is a limit on how long items can be borrowed for.

Some items are restricted for some users eg. R16 DVDs.

Table 1 Loan periods

3. Renewals

All physical items can be renewed once as long as no one else is waiting for them to be returned.

Some eBook platforms allow renewals before the borrowing period expires if there are no holds on the item.

4. Returns

You can return most physical items to any of our libraries. Board games must be returned to the library where they were borrowed.

eBooks and eAudiobooks are returned automatically at the end of the borrowing period. Some platforms enable you to return an item before its due date.

5. Holds

Most items in the lending collection can be freely requested by a member to collect from the library location of their choice. This is called placing a hold. Items in the bestseller and board game collections cannot be placed on hold.

Physical holds are kept at the selected library for a limited time. If they are not collected within this time, they are returned to the lending collection.

When eBooks or eAudiobooks become available for a hold, library members are usually notified by email.

6. Charges

Information about library fees is in the Fees and Charges Policy, and current charges are listed on the library website. This includes costs for lost or damaged items, charges for borrowing and debt collection fees.

Your membership type determines which collections you pay to borrow and how long you can borrow items for. See the table below. Note: all memberships are required to pay for Bestsellers and Board Games.

Table 2 Membership parameters

Loan queries

The Library works with any members to resolve queries such as:

• returned an item that seem to be still showing on an account
• items on an account that are reported as not borrowed by the member

References and related documents

Download Borrowing Policy [160KB PDF]