I’ve seen posts where people have to pay for a library card, is this common?
I’ve seen posts where people have to pay for a library card, is this common?
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I have to pay $20 because I live outside of town. My town doesn’t have a library….I live in a small town.
Same here. $20 cause we r outside city limits
Same here. I also pay $50 a year to have a card to the Brooklyn Public Library. I live in Nebraska so I just use it for the kindle books. It’s worth it to me , I save so much money by not having to buy every book I want to read!
That’s smart!
That is smart lol
I live five minutes outside city limits too which kinda sucks but I will pay it.
I pay to join other libraries for Kindle books.
I have kindle unlimited also
Usually there is a charge if you want to be a card holder of a library outside of the town or city you live in. My library charges $65 a year if you live outside of our consortium.
$1 for new. $1 for replacement, you get new number. Norman OK. New library being built w/3 stories and large windows.
My county library only charges you for a library card if you aren’t a resident of the county or if you need a replacement card. It’s like $5/year for non-residents, I think.
$50 per year because I live outside city limits. ?
For a while, one of my libraries made people outside of the city pay $25/year (I live 2-3 blocks outside of the city), so I started using only the other library system. Fortunately, they got rid of the fee and now I can use my card again! I pay more than that in late fees most years, anyway . . .
It’s about $100 here. I live outside city limits
Dang!
Apparently our home is in what’s called an extrajurisdictional territory (1 mile away from the library) so they want $120 a year for full access. We’re not considered “residents”. However, I can get a free card from a small community library one town over, or from the city of Houston since I’m a state resident. Houston charges $40 if you’re out of state. The towns I lived in before all offered free cards.
Free. I have a card for my county and the bordering county and both are free, thank goodness for free.
That’s just wrong, library cards should be free!
My guess is that it depends on how the library is funded in a particular area. But I agree, they totally should be free. I have cards to my own town, and three others, one of them being Denver (it has everything!) and they are all free, even though I don’t live in the other three, but I do live in Colorado. If you have a resident card to any library in Colorado, you can get a non-resident card to just about any other library for free.
Usually tax funded so depends on how much $$ they get…
LOL! Do NOT let my library system see this conversation. It might give them ideas… I live way outside the city limits, but I can get a library card for free, and can use any library within the “system.” I can even request a book from another library within the system for free, and they will deliver it to my nearest library location. 😉
Ours does if you live outside the county. Makes sense though
Oh yes, in my county. If your township hasn’t signed a contract with or passed a millage for the local library, you have to pay a fee of $100 for your card. And some townships do not repay any portion of that to you.
Wow that’s crazy, near me it’s called Free Library. I can request a book online and they get the book from another branch and text me that it’s ready.
I think there is a yearly fee for the Providence Athenuem which is a private, or subscription, library. It is stunning! I think Boston has one too. When Benjamin Franklin started the Library Society in Philadelphia, America’s first library, there was a fee. That is why across the land you see a lot of municipal libraries called ‘free public library.’
In Rhode Island
Interesting!
I had no idea
If you read older books in the usa, you will come across a character saving up for the yearly library fee. And, these are private – for instance, a person with a large private library who rents out the books.
Yep i think its bs i think everyone should. Be able to check out books
Quite common in India …
I live 8 miles from our local library but because I live outside their township you have to pay yearly. They will give the local school kids free cards but the card expires at the end of the school year…they have to pay for one in the summer. However, I found I could get a free one in a different county because I work in their county!! I just had to show my hospital badge.
If you live outside of the city, then you have to pay for a card. The taxes you pay as a resident support the library, so those that don’t pay the taxes, pay the fee.
Library Director here. Libraries in Michigan are funded primarily by millages (taxes), penal fines (a portion of ticket revenue), and a teeny bit of funding from the State.
Some libraries may charge out of district users a fee for a card because their tax dollars are going to another library.
Hope this helps clear things up.
Public libraries in Pennsylvania need to have $5 per person they want to represent in their budget. If libraries don’t get enough money in taxes or fundraisers to steadily support the number of people in their greater community, they are only allowed to give cards to the people in their borough/town/city limits who pay taxes into the system. Often times people who live right outside this limit (especially in rural communities) have to pay for their card.
I also live in a town that chooses to opt out of library taxes, so i don’t have a free library. But I do have access to online materials from the Free Library of Philly.
In Delaware County, PA, (southwest of Philadelphia) all of the local libraries use the same card, a Delco Libraries card. It’s free to residents of the county and I can go to any library and get books/use services. No idea how that works with our taxes.
Not in the UK. All free I think…. only a charge if you keep your books out too long.
I don’t think I had to pay for my Pittsburgh public library card, I can’t remember. My current county wide card, I don’t think I paid for either, but that could have been because I was a community college student.
My daughter lives in Pittsburgh, and please, let me say that I adore your main library, downtown. She dropped me off one morning, while she had to go to work, and I just about geeked myself to death. It is stunning, and beautiful, and historic, and has lovely employees, and when I die, I want to haunt that place.
I’m with you, RosemaryThomas. But I would haunt it helpfully. ?
@Jan Totally helpfully. <3
The old Carnegie Library in the Burgh is a spectacular place. Ahhh, the oak and the book smells… Haven’t been there in 45 years. I remember the massive card catalogues. Good times!
Generally you only have to pay for ones that are outside of the area you live in
I can only speak for Colorado, but we have a state library system, and if you obtain a resident card for one library, you are allowed to obtain a card for any other library which participates in the CLC (Colorado Library Card) system. And, most, but not all cities participate, and I don’t know why or why not, but it is a great thing to be sure! I can check out a physical book and then return it to my local library and they see to returning it. Of course, I can check out digital books with no worries.
My library cards have always been free. Unless you lose it and need a new one.
No but if you lose it you have to pay 50p
$3 for a replacement here.
When I lived in Upstate NY, my Library Card worked at all Libraries in a (3) county area (was a big library system!). When I moved back to Iowa, the Libraries are not connected as such, so I currently have cards (all free) for (3) different libraries in my county that I am ” local” for. 🙂
Is it the OWWL system in Upstate?
North Country Library System for Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties.
I traveled for work occasionally, and was able to stop and pick up/return books at many different libraries when I did. Plus you could reserve books from other libraries (as long as they were not new releases) and have them within a week.
Omgoodness, I’m in central ny (but a lot of people still consider it upstate) so I’m in a different system, but I’m from Jefferson County
Yeah, my library system I’m at now has over a dozen libraries connected
Camped and attended the races in Canandaigua quite a few times. Beautiful village! I lived in Adams, up near Watertown. Also lived in Cape Vincent for a couple of years.
My family is from Gouverneur but I grew up in Watertown and I’m currently residing in Canandaigua. What a beautifully small world.
I do miss it. I have explained the system here to my local librarians, and the advantages of being able to increase the number of books available to their patrons (especially smaller libraries), but they just look at me funny.
Very small world! I lived out there for (16) years. I moved back to Iowa (3) years ago.
free in SWFL and gorgeous libraries I believe there is a cost for replacements
I pay a 50$ yearly membership. It’s not required, but it does waive all late fees for the year.
Back before I read most library books on my Kindle, $50 for waived fees would have been a wash!
Yeah, and I have my kids use my card for movies and games as well so it DEFINITELY pays for itself ?
Christina Hodgin Myers Back before Kindle, it would have been much less for me to just pay the $50. 😀
I live out in the country and have to pay $50/yr for my municipal library membership. It’s still the biggest bargain out there.
My local library card is free. As long as I have that, I get free reciprocal rights at every other library in the state.
I have 2 library cards
My local library card is free, but I have two guest library cards in towns where I often travel and I paid a minimum fee for them. (I think it was $3.)
Start a Friends of Library, leave them in your will
Depends if your local library has reciprocal agreements with the other libraries in the area
free in SWFL and gorgeous libraries I believe there is a cost for replacements
I live in a different county and must pay for a Scottsdale library card. For 7 years I waited from 3 pm to 7 pm for my husband to get off from the hospital (next to the library). It was worth the $20. Now I use the Apache Junction library full time.
Not really cause mine was free
To the best of my knowledge, all public libraries within Perth will let you join up so long as you have proof of residential address within Perth. It depends on the library’s policy weather or not they accept WA residential address, but most won’t accept out of state/overseas address. Most libraries have temporary membership where you give a $50 deposit that you get back when you leave and return all your items, but I’ve never heard of a place charge a nonrefundable fee for membership
There are many reasons why this happens and in the US, here’s a big one: libraries that are accredited with the ALA must have a certain amount of items per each card holder. If they handed one out to any visitor they could get beyond a number that would be manageable to buy books for every individual. So usually they allow the local tax payers funding the library to have free access, with the exception of paying a small fee for replacement cards, in some cases. Those that are out of the taxable area can pay to belong and inadvertently fund some of the cost of their items. Often people from far away are not allowed to check out items because if they are lost it’s difficult to recover the books or what was borrowed. The accreditation status is a very big deal because without it millions of dollars in grant monies and other shared technology licenses for databases would be lost to the library system.
How does this work? People die or move away without telling the library, so how does the library ever know how many active patrons are in their system?
Thx!
My local library is free, as is the Free Philadelphia library which all Pennsylvanians can belong to for free, they have over 800,000 ebooks. It’s a wonderful thing.
Ours is $1
I think just to cover the costbofvthe little plastic thingy bc it’s a small community library. But at the big library in the nearest city it’s free. I only use that one for ebook tho
Our library is a county system with 21 branches. It is free to join if you live in the county and you have access to ANY of the branches – but choose a “home branch” for pick up of books you may have ordered online. I LOVE #OceanCountyLibrary #OCL!!
Only for a replacement
For your local library it should be free aside from late fees if those happen. You do have to play for a specail card if you want to use libraries outside your local branches though. I’m not sure why you would however when you can do interlibrary loans and have certain books sent from other libraries to yours to check out. That’s the way it works here in Indiana anyway.
Same here in Arizona.
I have library cards for my city, county and neighboring city because our ILL (Link+) won’t allow audio books to be sent.
Does your local library use Overdrive, Elizabeth Kerridge? If they do, I bet its full of audiobook to check out digitally.
Our library is free. $1 for a new card, 5cents per day per book after the due date unless it’s been requested by someone else. Then I think it’s a quarter per day
Never heard of that. Maybe small libraries do this to raise funds for maintenance?????
Because I am outside the “library boundaries”, I don’t automatically pay for the library in my taxes. I pay an annual fee based on the average tax a homeowner in the community pays. Very fair.
When in Oklahoma, we had to pay because we were out of county even though it was the closest. The in county library was awful!
I do, $35 a year. I live in a small village that became smaller when a hwy was widened. The post office disappeared at that point and there are only a few businesses left. So I go to a town 5 miles away to use their library. But recently they joined a consortium & I can access libraries all over the state. It’s worth it!
For those who are outside service areas, yes. But not if you live in the city served.
I live out in the country about an hr north of Kansas City. Since I do not live inside city limited I have to pay 25 dollars a year for a library card ?
In Maine, your library card is free from the town of residence. All other towns charge a fee.
That’s crazy. We have library cards from quite a few different cities/counties in the Denver area.
I live in southcentral PA. Our library is free, although you do pay for some things (check out a movie).
Weird. Movies, CDs, and all of the specialty studio time is included in our membership. We can also check out ereaders, app-enabled robots, use the 3D printer, etc.
@Erin Weird? These policies vary all over the country and no doubt the world. I don’t label things as weird just because they’re not the same as what I experience.
It’s strange that a service your taxes pay for don’t provide all services available.
@Erin It’s only strange to you, though. If varies, depending on the community. There are a lot of demands on tax monies everywhere, more all the time. Our library just took a huge hit on money it was counting on from the county. That money went to address the opioid epidemic.
That’s important too. And, yes, it is strange to me. I’ve lived in quite a few different places and never had limitations like that. It’s sad that some places have to choose between solving public problems and providing resources that could potentially stop the problems before they start. Education and materials are in such short supply and people deserve better.
We pay a nominal fee in Chicago
In many states, wthin the city or specific library district your taxes usually pay for use of the library. If you live out of the district of a library there is a fee to pay for the card. Most states have a formula they use, I believe, and the fee is equivalent to what residents in the district pay in taxes. For me it’s $100 annually.
Where I live we have a 5-county library system, the library is funded by property taxes so my system doesn’t allow people outside the five counties to use the library. To get a card you must show you live in the taxing district. Makes sense to me, if they wanted to charge outside the system that would make sense too. I “pay” for the library with my property taxes, a great deal by the way! People not paying into the system should pay a fee ?
I believe Rancho Palos Verdes, the wealthy enclave of L.A. where my wife grew up, does. The gritty town of Oakland, CA, where we now live, does not.
I have to pay if I lose my card and Library card renewals, but to sign up for a card: no. Even so the renewal is just $1 and I only have to pay it once every 5 years
Many now charge because too many people aren’t paying fines. One person ruins it for everyone. Always seems to be the case.
We have to pay if we are not within city limits, which we are not. A library card is based off of our property taxes, so if we were to get one, we would pay about $425. 🙁
I wouldn’t mind paying a small fee. I haven’t used my library card in ages since I purchase everything.
In our town it’s free, but if you lose it and need a replacement, it’s $5
Ours is 20$ for a new one and 5$ renewal every 5yrs
My library doesn’t charge a fee, but I wouldn’t mind if the fees were used to purchase more books!
Normal in the Netherlands when you are over 18 or not a student anymore. But.. it is only about $45 a year.
I only pay because I’m outside the U.S. but wanted access to OverDrive – some big libraries allow one to pay for access to their collection.
In a way you do since your taxes go to your public library. But not out right.
Free here
If they’re out of towners maybe
Toledo, Ohio, our cards are free.
In NJ if you live in a town without a library and you want a card, I believe you have to pay.
I live in a 2 county system. The next county only has separate libraries for each town and if you are outside the city limits, you have to pay since you aren’t taxed.
If you have lost your card, you may need to pay to replace it in Ramsey County MN (maybe).
Growing up, I lived in the country. We had to pay for a library card because we lived outside of city limits.
When I lived in the country they wanted me to pay 12$ a year for a library card in town but that’s only cause I didn’t live in the area. Otherwise it would be free. However I used to live in Calgary is it was $12 a year there also. But where I am now it’s free
It is now free in Calgary. Well….built into it taxes now…along with everything else.
@Tara I never got one in Calgary cause I thought it was ridiculous that you had to pay. I was always used to them being free.
? I didn’t realize I was so blessed. I live in Multnomah County (with the largest library west of the Mississippi, and very high numbers in readers) but the adjoining counties give you a card for free.
Hey, Teresa, I’m in Multnomah County too! Huzzah.
I get my local library card free. But I pay $50/year for The Free Library of Philadelphia (I live in Indiana). I like having the access to all of the extra ebooks and audiobooks.
When I was a taxpayer in a district that had no library I had to buy a card at a library in town and pay for the card at a quite high fee. Equal to the tax for the library
I live in a community of three separate cities. The town I live in, the card is free. I also have a card for one of the other libraries and it costs me $75 a year.
I live in CA and have never paid for a card, even if I didn’t live in the same town.
Ours are free in Wisconsin!
It depends on which tax money is paying for it.
No
In North Carolina I live in a suburb of a larger city, which is in a different county. You can pay annual fees to get to use the much larger libraries in the other county. When I homeschooled, it was worth every penny for armloads of children’s books on various subjects. They had a sale one time on lifetime memberships- $100- and I snatched it up. They have a much larger selection of ebooks than my county’s system. It’s great!
We do. I think it’s $35 a year
For those of us you who live in Texas, you can get a library card from the Houston Library for free. Big source for ebooks and audio books.
I will look into that for ebooks (though I wonder if all the libraries use the same ebook service)
Any payment used to obtain a library card from a state funded library is not a “fee”— it is a tax.
I think our library only charges for replacement cards.
I’ve never paid anything aside from late fees.
A lot of libraries let non-locals get a card there if they pay, and it can be a lot sometimes — like $50 a year. I guess people would only do this if their own local library is lacking or the other library were much better. Never been in that situation myself. Though where I live, I do get access to a neighboring county’s library for free in addition to my own county, and while my county libraries are good, the other county’s libraries have soooo many more ebooks (which I prefer), and have always purchased any I’ve requested they buy (whereas my local library has turned down requests). They charge $50 annually for a card if you’re not in their catchment area, and it might be worth it to some people.
In our state, Illinois, there are areas of unserved people, they live in an area with no public library. So they have option of going to nearest town that has library services and pay for a card there. Our libraries are supported by property taxes, paid by residents in library’s taxing area.
As well as the people paying for their access ?
Not in Wales. We want to encourage people to read not discourage.
we pay $1 for a new card, but we get free renewal
Where I live I only have to buy a card if I don’t live in that city’s tax.
In Clermont County, Ohio, unless you live in the county or own property in the county, you have to pay for a card. So much for a public free library.
Libraries rely on funding. You have to have funds for staff, materials and the building. Free public libraries are a misnomer.
In Richmond, VA metro area, I have cards from my county (Henrico), surrounding areas (Chesterfield and Pamunkey which is actually 4 much smaller counties together), and the city of Richmond. All of them free. You have to get a card from your area first, and then you can use that to get cards at all the others.
They are free everywhere I’ve ever lived. In For now I think you can get a library card in any county if you live in the state.
I have to pay $2 to renew mine.
I live in a small town in Nebraska — it’s free here, but I can’t speak for the bigger cities.
We don’t charge for new cards in my library (kanawha county, WV)
There is no charge in anyplace I know of in New York.
My library doesn’t charge its free
In my town the first card is free but if you lose it there’s a $1 replacement fee.
On the other hand, the library checkout, computers, and website can all be accessed without a card as long as you know your card number.
Never heard of it in a public library. 40 years of library work in the Northeast but thete are social libraries that one can join for a fee.
In NJ we have a county library system. Membership, including the card, is free to residents. There is a $2 fee for a replacement card.
Where I live, if you live outside the city limits there is a charge. Otherwise not.
Decades ago in Illinois my mother-in-law didn’t have to pay for her library card because she was a teacher. At some point they became free to everyone. In my area it’s free to all residents of my county. If you live outside the county, you pay a fee.
Free in Chicago with great reciprocal privileges for suburban systems
Think mine was $10? Never paid more any place where I’ve lived in PA. That was only for a new one though. It auto-renewed I think so unless I misplaced the other one or moved somewhere new it never came up.
Depends but i’ve only ever heard of people paying like $2.
Yes it is around here anyway
I think our city library charges $50 for non-residents.
I feel so fortunate to live in a city that is committed to supporting a free library system. Voters overwhelmingly voted not only to support the library but to give it the $$ to expand and make improvements at all branches. People in Portland OR realize that the library is a lifeline not only for book lovers but for low income citizens who need access to computers, social activities for their children and help connecting to resources
if u lose it u pay 2$
They are not free in my town if you live outside city limits. In fact, you have to pay for them annually! Our fee is $100 annually.
Oh yeah in Avon In, n???ot the card but the overdue fees. I’m so delinquent at times , I’m a “ friend of the Library “. And I have 40 of my own waiting to be read.
No, In Harrisonburg Virginia, library cards are free unless you lose it and then it’s a $3.00 replacement fee, renewal is free too.
Some folks pay non resident fees if they live in un-incorporated areas or cities that don’t provide libraries or library services. We have 2 small communities nearby like this but they reimburse their citizens if they buy a card from our library.
Our taxes pay for our library, so in my city, as a resident it’s free. In the unincorporated section of town, they don’t pay property taxes, so they pay $350-$400 a year. They can use the library for free, just can’t take out books, movies, etc. Same process for our park district.
Non-residents only.
Librarian here: in Indiana it’s all by taxing district. If you live in the taxing district that supports the library. If you’re in a non-taxable district then you have to pay for a membership.
At our library cards are free. If you lose your card, the replacement is $1. We are in northern Ohio.
Not all governments fully support libraries. Here it is up to municipalities & mine (stupidly, IMO) doesn’t fund free access to a library.
If you don’t mind me asking, what city are you in?
No city – I live rurally, but I live close to a small city with a library. Annually, the fee is $95 & we’re supposed to get $30 rebate from our municipality, but in reality, we’ve tried & been stonewalled by municipal staff telling us it’s not available. We can afford to pay for it so we decided not to die on that hill. The city residents DO get a free card.
No
Not sure if somebody covered this already, but I know that if you apply for a card in a different city than you are a resident of, there is usually a fee.
I haven’t found that to be true in Ca.
@Maria wow really because to get a Long Beach library card and SF one I paid a fee since my address was in LA.
@Karla I think it’s more by county. I’m in Napa we pay $2 for a new card/account just once.
I have library cards in San Diego county & Santa Clara county. I didn’t pay anything… Maybe it’s decided by individual counties.
@Maria Joti Mangat , ah that makes sense. ?
No
When I lived in Clearwater there was no fee. I came back here and there is a 16.00 fee. Depends upon what the board/council votes on.
I paid $25 for a card because I’m out of county but it is closer to me. I can go at lunch.
It was for us in the PNW (specifically Salem, OR), but we’re in Cleveland, OH now and no fees. I was able to do the entire process online, and began checking out ebooks immediately, plus we have the cards if I ever have a longing and/or the ability to go to the actual library.
Here it is. I pay 45 euros a year. But I can take out as many books as I like and I don’t have to pay a fine when I’m late bringing them back. I can also borrow DVD’s and games. Children get a free card.
Not in the UK, but it might be a good idea, since public libraries seem to be struggling to survive here, they are constantly closing them down, reducing staff etc.
I believe it was $2 when we got my son one. I had mine for over 20 years I don’t remember what it was then.
I paid for two library cards in two different counties. Each county gives me something different.
In New Jersey there is a special state tax that is earmarked for the libraries. There should be no fee at any library where the taxes are received from the state. Maybe worth checking in to.
Thanks. The Library is my happy place. I’ve always gone on average 1x a week since grade school. It is a tremendous resource. I find it sad that it is not always accessible for everyone. I am going to look at how I can contribute more to this fabulous system.
I’m the same. Stop most Friday nights on the way home from work, pick up books, movies, music and magazines. My idea of heaven is a library or Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon ?❤️?
No fees for cards, very nominal for over due. Fort Worth Texas. And I have lived in Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi and never paid a fee.