Library Cards

Incorporated Village of Northbrook
If you live within the incorporated area of the Village of Northbrook, you are entitled to a free library card. Please bring current identification that includes your full name and reflects your address within the village. Types of identification may include driver's license, printed checks, a current utility bill sent through the mail, a real estate tax bill, or student identification.

Lost or damaged cards may be replaced for a $1 fee. For your protection, we again need identification that verifies your name and Northbrook address.

Your card will be honored at many libraries across the state.

Unincorporated Areas
People who live in unincorporated Northbrook may purchase nonresident cards by bringing a current real estate tax bill, a current lease form, or a current cancelled rent check, and identification which includes full name and address.

A purchased nonresident card has full rights at the Northbrook Public Library and it will be honored by many other libraries. Nonresident card prices are roughly based (in a range) of .00215 of your home's taxable equalized valuation, which is equivalent to that residents pay. Nonresident cards may be purchased on a prorated basis for those who spend a significant part of the year out of state.

Contact our Circulation Department for more information.
 
Loan Periods

Books
Most books may be borrowed for 3 weeks. New Adult Fiction has a loan period of one week. You can take out 30 books at a time.

Rental Books
Many new bestsellers are also available for rental at $1 for one week. Each additional day is 15 cents.

DVDs
New DVDs may be borrowed for 2 days. All others may be borrowed for one week. There is a fee of $1 for each DVD. You can take out 10 DVDs at a time.

Children's and Family DVDs
DVDs may be borrowed for one week. There is a fee of $1 for each DVD.You can take out 10 DVDs at a time.

Videos
Videos may be borrowed for one week. There is a fee of $1 per video.You can take out 10 videos at a time.

CDs, Cassettes & Records
Music on CD, cassette or record may be borrowed for one week.You can take out 15 of these items at a time.

Audiobooks
Books on CD or cassette may be borrowed for 3 weeks.You can take out 5 audiobooks at a time.

CD-ROMs
Computer games and educational software on CD-ROM may be borrowed for one week. You can take out 5 of these at a time.

For more details on loans of AV Materials, see the AV Loans page.

Periodicals
Up to 12 magazines and journals may be borrowed for one week. The most current copy of a periodical may not be borrowed.

Other Items
Slides and librettos may be borrowed for one week. Music scores, puzzles, pamphlets, and juvenile magazines may be borrowed for three weeks. The VTEK machine for the visually impaired may be borrowed for four weeks.

Noncirculating Items
Items that may not be borrowed from the library include reference books, the most current copy of a periodical, and newspapers.

Renewals

Items may be renewed up to three times if there are no reserves. To renew items over the phone, call 847-272-6224 during library hours. Have your library card and the item(s) you want to renew handy. Videos, DVDs and rental books may not be renewed over the phone.

You can also renew items online. Go to the catalog and click on My Account, then choose Renew My Materials. You will be prompted to enter your full library card barcode (no spaces) and your password. The default password is "patron" (all lowercase), but you can change your password under My Account if you wish. You will see a list of all items you currently have checked out. Check the box to the left of each item you want to renew, or choose Renew All, and then click Renew Selected Items.

Fines & Fees

If an item is returned after the date it is due, a fine of 10 cents per day per item is charged for most materials. The fine for late videos and DVDs is $1 per day per item.

Fees are charged for the replacement of a lost or damaged library card, reserves, damaged or lost materials, borrowing videos, extensive database searching, rental books, the procurement of a magazine article from another library, nonresident library cards for residents of unincorporated Northbrook, forgotten library cards, and returned checks.

Reserves & Interlibrary Loan

Reserves
Northbrook cardholders may be put on a waiting list for materials that are currently unavailable (checked out or on order). There is no service charge. You may reserve items over the phone; please have your library card handy. You may also reserve items online via our catalog. Items that may not be reserved are videos and DVDs.

Interlibrary Loan
Interlibrary Loan allows Northbrook Public Library card holders access to materials which are not available in the library's collection. The Interlibrary Loan staff searches the catalogs of other libraries and can often locate unusual or out-of-print titles.

The Interlibrary Loan process takes from approximately seven days to eight weeks depending on the location of the book and the lending library's response time.

Interlibrary Loan requests can be made at any of the service desks on the second and third floors.

Please provide as much information about the item as possible such as title, author, publisher and year of publication. The more information you can give us about the item, the faster we can find it.

Materials that are difficult to borrow through Interlibrary Loan are sound recordings and genealogical publications. Items that we don't Interlibrary Loan are compact discs, CD-ROMs, and videos & DVDs.

The loan period for each book is determined by the lending library.

There is no service charge.

Often Interlibrary Loan materials are not renewable and occasionally are sent for in-library use only. We will make every attempt to renew an item when possible.

For more information on Interlibrary Loan call (847) 272-6224, ext. 243.