Borrowing FAQs

  • General Questions

    The St. Tammany Parish Library does not charge late fines; however, if an item is not returned for more than 45 (forty-five) days past the due date, a replacement cost of the material(s) will be billed to the patron's account. 

    • Parents or legal guardians are responsible for all assessed library replacement fees for minor children.
    • Patron accounts will return to good standing upon return of all overdue items.
    • Any patron having billed materials shall be prohibited from checking out additional materials until the total replacement fees accrued for overdue materials are less than $5.00 or all materials are returned.
    • Partial payments may be made on replacement fees.
    • Patrons may check out additional materials when the total of fees is below $5.00.
    • Materials loaned via ILL to St. Tammany Parish Library for use by local borrowers fall under St. Tammany Parish Library overdue policies. However, borrowers will be held responsible for all special assessments placed by lending institutions.

    Yes. The library uses SmartPay to accept online payment of library fees, but the amount owed must be more than $5.00. 

    To pay fees online, click on Fees in the My Borrowing section of your dashboard.

    Click the Pay Fees button. You will be connected to SmartPay and will be prompted to enter your library barcode and password. 

    The library allows patrons to place holds on the next published book of many popular authors with the NEXTBOOK service.

    To find a record for an author's NEXTBOOK simply search the author's last name and NEXTBOOK. A hold may be placed on the item, by selecting "Place Hold." When the new book is available for checkout, those on the holds list will receive it before it goes on the library's shelves.

    Renewals are at the discretion of the lending library. In order to submit a renewal request to a lending library, please contact your branch library seven days prior to the due date.

    Any item may be renewed once as long as there is no other request for that item.

    Hold requests may be placed at any branch library either in person or by telephone.  You may also request items through the online catalog using your library card number and password.

    The time it takes to receive an InterLibrary Loan varies and could be up to several weeks. There are many factors that affect this. The availability of the item, the distance of the lending library, and the loan policy of the lending library all contribute to the length of time it takes to receive a requested item.

    The loan period is set by the lending library.

    The InterLibrary Loan system can't be used to borrow genealogy materials, but many materials are available through other sources. For information about the library's genealogy resources, please contact a reference librarian.

    The fine is $1.00 per day for each InterLibrary Loan item returned after the due date. In addition, if an InterLibrary Loan item is overdue, library users can't borrow any other library materials until it is returned.

    Ten InterLibrary Loan items can be checked out at one time.

    Library users can place up to five active InterLibrary Loans requests at one time.

    Books, audio-books, DVDs and CDs may be borrowed through InterLibrary Loan. The library is unable to borrow genealogy materials through InterLibrary Loan.

    If the library doesn't own a recently published item you would like to borrow, you can request that we purchase it.

    If you would like to borrow an older item or one we are unable to purchase, we can attempt to borrow it from another library through InterLibrary Loan. You can contact your local branch to request it or place the request yourself.

    Yes. Books, DVDs, and CDs may be returned to any branch library.  All library branches have outside book drops so you can return materials when the library is closed.

    When fines exceed $5.00 or borrowed material is more than 2 weeks overdue, additional items may not be borrowed. Fines must be brought below $5.00 and overdue items must be returned before the account can be used.

    Books, Audiobooks and music CDs can be borrowed for 28 days.

    DVDs can be borrowed for 7 days.

    eBooks and eAudiobooks from CloudLibrary and hoopla can be borrowed for 21 days.

    eBooks and eAudiobooks from Overdrive can be borrowed for 7, 14, or 21 days.

    Music can be borrowed from hoopla for 7 days.

    Movies and T.V. shows  can be borrowed from hoopla for 3 days.

    No, a library card is required to check out any materials. If you have forgotten your library card, ask a staff member to assist you. You will be asked to provide your driver's license.

    Children under the age of 18 may not borrow NC-17 or R rated DVDs without their parents' or legal guardians' consent.

    There is no limit to the number of physical library items you can borrow at one time.

    OverDrive/ Libby has a checkout limit of 20 eBooks or downloadable audiobooks. The is no limit on the number of magazines that can be checked out through OverDrive.

    CloudLibrary has a limit of 10 eBooks and downloadable audiobooks.

    Hoopla allows eight movie, TV show, music album, and comic book checkouts a month.

    Physical items can be renewed once if there is no one waiting for it.

    CloudLibrary does not offer a renewal function. If the item isn't on hold for another user, it can be checked out again.

    Hoopla does not offer a renewal function, but items can be checked out again as long as your monthly limit of five checkouts has not been reached.

    OverDrive allows users to request a title again three days before it is due through the "Request again" button. If another patron has the item on hold, the user will be placed in the holds queue. OverDrive magazines can be renewed with no waiting.