Frequently Asked Questions
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- How can I find out where my local library is and its opening times?
- How do I find out my PIN?
- How do I change my PIN?
- How do I renew my loans?
- What can I do if a renewal is refused?
- How do I make a reservation?
- How do I find out the progress of my reservations?
- How do I cancel a reservation?
- I've just tried to reserve an item but it won't let me. Why is this?
- How do I reserve an item which is not in the catalogue?
- I have asked to be notified by email. Why have I not received a notification that my reserved item is available?
- What are Top Title DVDs and Videos?
- How do I change my email address?
- Why does an author's name appear more than once, in different forms?
- Why does no classmark appear in the title list, but one or more classmarks show in the catalogue record?
- Why do some Catalogue searches take a long time?
- Why do I get timed out when using the
catalogue?
- How can I find out what I've previously borrowed?
- What do I do if I lose my membership card?
- What can I do if my membership has expired?
- Is my browser supported by the Catalogue?
- How can I change the font size or screen display?
How can I find out where my local library is and its opening times?
Contact details for all Norfolk libraries can be found on the main Norfolk Library and Information Service website – just choose your nearest branch from the list. If you don’t know which is your nearest branch you can visit
Where I Live. Click on the “On the Map” tab, then choose to view map layers from the options on the left. Select Libraries, then click on the display on map button underneath the list. This will show a number of green stars on the map of Norfolk. You can then click on a star to zoom in on the map.
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How do I find out my PIN?
You can get your PIN Number from us in a number of ways. Firstly, you can call the Libraries Renewal Number 0344 800 8006 and choose option 0 to be connected to a member of staff. They will ask you a set of questions to verify your identity and then give it to you over the phone.
Secondly, you can telephone your local library. Again, they will ask you a number of questions to verify your identity and then tell you your PIN Number.
You can also visit a library to be given your PIN number in person. It would help if you could bring some form of ID with you, such as driving licence, credit card, utility bill etc
You may wish to fill in a form requesting a PIN Number. On receipt of the form, we will phone you back at a time convenient to you during weekday office hours to complete the identity check as above.
If you are not already a member of Norfolk Library and Information Service, then you can join online and you will be prompted to choose your own PIN Number.
Please note that we are unable to email PIN Numbers for security reasons.
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How do I change my PIN?
From the home page of the Catalogue click on the link “Personal record” in the navigation box on the left of the screen. If you are not already logged in, enter your membership number and PIN at the prompt. Your membership number is below the barcode on your library card, and your PIN number is available from your library (see
How do I find out my PIN?). Click on “Change your PIN” and follow the instructions. You will need to confirm your current PIN before you can change it to a new one.
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How do I renew my loans?
From the homepage of the Catalogue click on the link “Your Loans” in the navigation box on the left of the screen, and enter your membership number and PIN at the prompt If you are not already logged in. Your membership number is below the barcode on your library card, and your PIN number is available from your library (see
How do I find out my PIN?). All the items you have on loan are listed. To renew selected items click in the box to the left of each item you wish to renew and then click on "Renew selected”. You may also renew all of your loans in one go by clicking on “Renew All”. The new return date will appear to the right of each item.
Please note that you can only renew items online three times. After that, it needs to be seen by a member of staff, following which a further 3 online renewals will be possible.
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What can I do if a renewal is refused?
If an item cannot be renewed a reason will be given alongside the appropriate item. The most common reasons are that the item has reached the maximum number of renewals (3), or another customer has placed a reservation against the item. In this situation please contact your local library where staff will do their best to help you.
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How do I make a reservation?
Find the item you wish to reserve through the catalogue. Before placing a reservation we recommend that you check to see if there is more than one catalogue entry for the item you require so that you can place the reservation on the entry with the most available copies. Click on “Add to Basket” on the right-hand side of the details about the item you wish to reserve, which will add the item to your reservation basket which appears on the right of the screen. You can keep adding items to your basket until you are ready to place the reservation(s). If you are not logged in to the site you will be asked to enter your membership number and PIN. Your membership number is below the barcode on your library card, and your PIN number is available from your library (see
How do I find out my PIN?). You will need to choose the library you wish to collect the item(s) from. You will also need to choose how you would like us to notify you when the item(s) become available for you. At present you can choose between post and email.. If you want to reserve everything in your basket click "Reserve All". If you only want to reserve some of the items in your basket click "Reserve selected". Your reservation will then be complete, and you will be notified when it becomes available for collection.
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How do I find out the progress of my reservations?
From the home page click on “Your reservations” in the navigation box on the left of the screen. If you are not logged in, at the prompt, enter your membership number and PIN. Your membership number is below the barcode on your library card, and your PIN number is available from your library (see
How do I find out my PIN?).
The "Progress" column can show:
- Reserved: you are on the waiting list, but a copy has not yet become available
- In transit: a copy has been allocated to your reservation, and is on its way to the library where you have chosen to pick it up
- Ready to collect: A copy is ready to be collected from your chosen library
- Not collected: A copy became available, but you failed to collect it within 14 days
- Expired: No copies were available before the expiry of the reservation (usually 12 months after the reservation was placed).
If we cannot get hold of the item in question for any reason, and we have to cancel the reservation, we will contact you and advise you of the fact. Any reservation charges that have been paid will be refunded in full.
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How do I cancel a reservation?
You can cancel a reservation by clicking on “Your reservations” in the navigation box on the left of the screen and entering your membership number and PIN if you are not already logged in. Your membership number is below the barcode on your library card, and your PIN number is available from your library (see
How do I find out my PIN?). Click "Cancel" against the item you wish to cancel. You may cancel a reservation up to the point at which it goes into transit to the library you have chosen to collect it from without being charged for the it.
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I've just tried to reserve an item but it won't let me. Why is this?
There are a number of possible reasons for this:
- Some libraries have premium collections of new items which have been made temporarily non-reservable to maximise turnover. For example, bestselling fiction paperbacks and DVD and Video Top Titles. You may find other copies of these items which are reservable.
- Some items are not reservable by certain categories of member. For example, if you are under 18 you will be unable to reserve an 18 category DVD or Video.
- Some books are for use in the library only (usually called reference books). If you ask a member of staff they may be able to arrange a short loan for some titles but this cannot be guaranteed.
For further clarification please ask a member of library staff.
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How do I reserve an item which is not in the catalogue?
If you can’t find what you are looking for after you have searched the catalogue, you can fill in a Request form. We will either order this title for you or tell you why we are unable to do so.
If we order the title for you, you will be charged 75p. However, no reservation charges are payable on children's titles.
If we borrow it from another library service (an inter-library loan) - the charge will be £2.50.
Please contact your local library to check on progress of inter-library loan requests
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I have asked to be notified by email. Why have I not received a notification that my reserved item is available?
- Is the item you reserved actually available? (see How do I find out the progress of my reservations)
- If the item you reserved is available please check that the email address we have on record for you is correct.
- If the email address we have for you is correct please recheck that notices are being sent to you by email rather than by post.
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What are Top Title DVDs and Videos?
The latest release DVD and Video titles added to stock are designated Top Titles. These titles have a shorter loan period and different loan fee to the standard Home Entertainment Titles. After six weeks, the titles will revert to the standard Home Entertainment designation.
Top Titles will not be available for requests until after this 6 week period.
TopTitles have been introduced to maximise the availability and loan potential of new DVDs and Videos.
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How do I change my email address?
From the homepage click on ”Your personal details” in the navigation box on the left of the screen. You will be asked for your membership number and PIN unless you are already logged in. The membership number is below the barcode on your library card, and your PIN number is available from your library (see How do I find out my PIN?). Click on “Update my email address” and follow the instructions.
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Why does an author's name appear more than once, in different forms?
There are a few reasons why an author's name may appear on the catalogue in several forms
- They may have written books using different forms of their name e.g. Porter, Michael or Porter M.R. Unfortunately we don't as yet have a way of cross-referencing different forms of names in our web catalogue.
- Other authors with similar names may also exist and to differentiate between them birth dates and/or death dates have been added. Discrepancies can occur if catalogue records are not fully updated, or if changes in dates are not noted.
- The catalogue is created and edited by both professional cataloguers and non-specialist staff. In order to make stock available to the public as quickly as possible, skeleton records with minimal information are often added, and updated in due course.
- We are aware that names in the catalogue are not always consistent. We are working through them to rectify discrepancies and create a more streamlined database. However this is a time consuming process, so please bear with us. We are always happy to hear from customers who have spotted inconsistencies so we can correct them.
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Why does no classmark appear in the title list, but one or more classmarks show in the catalogue record?
The title list simply shows the title or list of titles incorporating the words that you entered to be searched for. In order to get more information about the titles found, the catalogue record with full details can be accessed by double clicking on the appropriate title. The classmark is displayed here along with other details, to make finding the item easier.
The Dewey Decimal Classification is used to classify our non-fiction books. If there is more than one classmark in the catalogue record, it may be that there is both a Dewey number and a local classification number. The local numbers are frequently used in specialist areas, such as local history or printed music.
Other reasons for duplicate classmarks are largely historical. We are working towards uniformity, but it is a long job and will take some time to complete.
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Why do some Catalogue searches take a long time?
Searches can vary in length depending on the number of search terms used. If keywords entered are common to lots of catalogue records the search time will be extended, and you will get a lot of results to work through. Select the more unusual words from a title to search on. The catalogue is online, so search times can also vary according to the number of people using it at any one time.
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Why do I get timed out when using the
catalogue?
When you first visit the catalogue home page a session will be started. This session will come to an end after 300
minutes of use. However, the session can also be ended automatically if no activity is detected for a
period of 20 minutes. This applies whether you are logged in or not.
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How can I find out what I've previously borrowed?
From the home page click on “Your Loans History” in the navigation box on the left of the screen. You will be asked for your membership number and PIN, unless you are already logged in. The membership number is below the barcode on your library card, and your PIN number is available from your library (see
How do I find out my PIN?). A record is kept of the items you have borrowed and reserved for the last 12 months. You can choose how far back you want to go by clicking on the arrow to the right of the box "Choose the period" and highlighting the period you wish to search for. The items you have borrowed during this period are listed. Click on a title to view the catalogue record, or click on the author's name to view a list of titles by that author. The most recent loans will appear first.
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What do I do if I lose my membership card?
If you lose your membership card, you should let us know as soon as possible by calling our general enquiry line on 0344 800 8020. It is important that you do this as soon as you discover the card is lost so that we can prevent anyone else from using it.
When you next visit the library, you will need to bring some proof of identity and we will give you a replacement card, for which we may need to charge a small fee.
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What can I do if my membership has expired?
If your membership has expired please go to your local library where staff will verify your personal details. We are unable to re-register online at present.
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Is my browser supported by the Catalogue?
The catalogue has been tested with the following browsers: Windows - IE5.5+, Opera 7.2+, Netscape 7+, Firefox 1.4+, Maxthon 2.0. Mac - Safarai 1.2+. Linux - Konqueror, Firefox and Mozilla.
Please note that IE for the Mac is no longer supported by Microsoft and is thus not supported in this catalogue - see the Microsoft site for the full statement
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How can I change the font size or screen display?
There are several options to change the way the page displays, all of which are accessed by clicking on the Page Display Options link that appears on the left hand side of the page, just under the County Council logo.
The first option is to change the size of the font and you can do that by clicking on one of the different sized letter A's that then appears in the heading - experiment with all 3 to see which gives you the best results.
You can also choose to change the style of display to present the information as a single column, as high contrast, or just to remove our corporate style sheet. Again experiment to see which suits you best. You can also use a combination of font size and display style if you wish.
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