Can I buy new books from the library?
Yes, you can buy any book currently in print through your local library. It's quite simple - complete a form for each title you want, telling us as much as you know (author, title, publisher, price, ISBN), pay a deposit and wait for a phone call telling you your book has arrived.
This service is provided in partnership with Kesley's Bookshop.

Can I buy discarded library stock?
Library books, audio books and music CDs which are no longer required are sold to the public. "FOR SALE" items are on display in most libraries during some of the year. Ask your local library staff for details.

Can I renew my books by phone?
Yes. It makes it easier if you can have your borrower card handy when you do so and can read off your borrower number for us.

Can I research my family tree?
You can access an enormous amount of material on the Internet on your local library computers. Look at our family history page for details. Our Local History Centre has microfilm copies of all East Lothian pre 1855 parish registers and census returns 1841-1901.

Do I have to return items to the library I borrowed them from?
No, you can return them to any library in East Lothian.

Do you keep bus timetables? (know when the next bus is into town!)
Yes, local bus timetables are in all our libraries.

Do you have old maps?
Our Local History Centre has a large collection of East Lothian maps and plans from the sixteenth century up to the present.

Do you have the voters roll?
Yes, you can consult the roll to check if you are included and your details are correct. Because of copyright and data protection law, the voters' roll is not to be used as a source of information about anyone else.

How does the library decide what stock to buy?
We take a number of factors into account when choosing books, tapes and CDs:

• requests and recommendations from the public
• our knowledge of which authors and genres are most borrowed
• the need to have broad coverage in all subject areas
• our knowledge of publishers and their reputation
• the attractiveness and quality of what is being offered

A number of staff have an input into the selection: all the librarians in your local libraries and the specialist staff in our Adult Services and Young People's Services at Library headquarters.
Most stock is bought from specialist library suppliers, who notify us of forthcoming works months before they are published and arrange jacketing, spine strengthening and labelling for library use.

How many items can I borrow?
Click here for details

How much does it cost to join?
Membership of the library is free and all stock (including music CDs and books on tape) can be borrowed free of charge. The one exception is a charge of £1 for borrowing CD Roms.

Overdue charges are levied on adult stock which is not returned within the 3 week loan period. Items can normally be renewed (in person, letter or by phone) if not required by another user.

How much are overdue charges and reservation charges?
Click here for details

How much does access to the Internet cost?
Our People's Network PCs offer free access to the Internet

I am interested in working for the library service. How do I set about it and what qualifications do I need?
All library service jobs are advertised on the Council's Vacancies page.  Qualifications and application details are available for every post advertised.

Job Centre Vacancies.
Our libraries provide free access for the unemployed to the Employment Service's National Job Vacancy web site. You can phone the job centre from the library for free if you want to arrange an interview.

Where can I use my borrower's card?
You can use your card to borrow books and CDs or use the PCs in any East Lothian library, not just the library where you registered.

Who is the mobile library for?
Two mobile libraries serve communities and individuals whose access to libraries may be otherwise limited. Places served include sheltered housing, old people's homes, suburbs of some towns, farm cottages, villages, rural schools and playgroups. The most remote parts of East Lothian are included.

What stock do the mobiles carry?
Stock is the same as in any other library - including fiction and non-fiction, paperback and hardback, books on tape, large print, teenage reading, children's picture books and music CDs. Items not in stock can be requested free of charge.

What if I am housebound?
If you live in rural areas and are housebound, either temporarily or permanently, library staff will bring books to your door.

When and where do they call? One of the mobiles visits larger villages and schools (Mobile I). The other (Mobile II) visits landward areas and smaller villages. They both have a fortnightly rota.

Click either Week I or Week II for routes and times for Mobile I (villages and schools)
Click either Week I or Week II for routes and times for Mobile II (landward, small villages)