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Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I get a library card?

  You are eligible for membership at any age if you live, work, teach or go to school in any participating Burlington County municipality. BCLS defines membership based upon residency or affiliation. The library operates via a dedicated county library tax collected from Burlington County households in its 37 participating communities. Cards are offered to residents of the participating communities. In addition, many county residents who are ineligible via residency but who work, teach or attend school in participating communities may apply for membership. For more information see below for types of memberships.

  • Non-participating municipalities are: Moorestown, Mount Laurel and Willingboro.

  To get a card, you may apply for membership at any library location or by submitting an online application. Applicants submitting an online application must provide identification and proof of residency within 60 days of the application date at a branch. Learn more.

• Does the library charge overdue fines?

  No!

  Overdue fines for most library items, including books, DVDs, CDs, magazines, movies, video games and technology-on-loan do not accrue overdue fines*. We want you to read more and worry less, so if you keep a book out for longer than its due date, you will not see daily fines on your account.

  However, we encourage you to be courteous to your fellow library user and return your items on time**. Others may be waiting to borrow them and we want to make sure they enjoy library materials as much as you do! Borrowed items are still due back on a set date and we expect items to be returned on time. Be respectful of your fellow library users who may be waiting for items to be returned.

  How It Works

  • Item is borrowed and a due date is established.
  • If there are no holds, the item is renewed automatically, establishing a new due date after each renewal.
  • Item reaches the maximum number of auto-renewals (this varies by item) and enters a 7-day grace period.
  • At end of the grace period, the item is set to “lost” status and a replacement fee is added to the account.
  • Account-holder is ineligible to borrow items until the outstanding item is returned or the lost fee is paid.

  *Overdue fines will continue to accrue for select library items, such as Museum Passes, Borrow-A-Book-Club sets, Interlibrary Loan items and Classroom Kits.

  **Accounts with unreturned items that go into a lost status will be locked until the items are returned or replacement fees are paid. Cardholders will be unable to borrow more items or download books or magazines in Overdrive/Libby.

• What does remote access mean?

  The library provides access to many online resources through subscriptions and licensing agreements. Many of our resource providers allow you to login to their platforms from outside the library. Remote access means you are able to use the online resource from outside the library – at home or at work – with your library card number. Resources that don't allow remote access must be used on-site on library computers.

• What does full-text mean?

  Many of our online resources provide access to publications from magazines, scholarly journals, industry or trade publications or news publishers. Sometimes the resource provider is only able to obtain a summary, abstract or bibliographic listing of the article or content. In this case, we may be able to obtain the article from another library.

  In many cases the entire article is available through the provider. These full-text articles may be identified as "HTML Full Text" or "PDF Full Text" or some combination of those. If you are only interested in fell-text content, you may choose to limit your search to that type of content. 

• Can I return items to a different branch?

  Yes. Borrowed material can be returned to any library location.  Book returns are available at each library location when libraries are closed.  A community book return is also available in the entrance lobby of the Marlton Shop Rite.

  Items borrowed on Libby are automatically returned at the end of the checkout period.

• I applied for a library card online. How do I obtain my card?

  Please visit the library location you selected during the application process within 60 days to activate your card. We ask that you bring government issued photo identification and proof of residency (recent phone/utility/bank statement) if your identification does not display a current address, alongside military identification if applicable.

• How do I renew my items?

  There are several ways to renew your library items:

  1. Log in to your account here. You will either need your barcode number and PIN or a username and password.
  2. Call our TeleCirc line: 609-267-6703 (Barcode Number and PIN required)
  3. Call your local branch.

  BCLS also offers Automatic Renewals (up to two times) on most items without a wait list.  For more information on Automatic Renewals, click here.