Borrowing and returning

Access to the library

Everyone has access to the library, regardless of their place of residence. Access to the collections, services and public areas is open to all who comply with the rules of use. Library staff have the right to remove from the library premises any person who disturbs other patrons or library activities or damages library property. Disruptive behaviour will result in the suspension of library access.

Loans and renewals

You may have up to 100 loans at any one time, including up to 10 console games. 
Loan periods vary from one week to four weeks (7–28 days):

• 4 weeks: books, recordings, sheet music, language courses, CD-ROMs, console games
• 2 weeks: magazines, Quick Loans, electric meters, board games, musical instruments, videos, DVDs and Blu-ray discs
• 1 week: weekly loans, seasonal cards

The loan period expires at the end of the library's opening hours and at the end of the day for the online library.

Borrowed library items can be renewed up to 5 times as long as they have not been reserved by someone else (weekly loans, season tickets and musical instruments cannot be renewed). Loans can be renewed on the spot at the library, by telephone or 24 hours a day via the online library.

Libraries will respect the age limits set by the National Audiovisual Institute for the lending of film recordings. The library is not liable for any damage to your equipment caused by the borrowed recording.

You will lose your borrowing rights in all Keski Libraries if you do not return the loans, if you do not pay the fees or if you damage the library material.

Returning material

You can return borrowed material from the Keski Libraries free of charge to any of the Keski Libraries' branches. You do not need a library card to return the material.

You can return material to the library during library opening hours or to the library's drop boxes when the library is closed.  Items returned to a drop box will be processed on the next day the library is open. For example, if you return material to a drop box on the due date, it will be recorded as returned a day late.

Reserving material

You can reserve material via the online library, by phone or by visiting the library. Once reserved, the material will be delivered to the branch of your choice. Reservations are free of charge, but if you do not cancel or pick up your reservation by the last pick-up date, you will be charged a fee of 2 EUR for the uncollected reservation. When you collect your reservation, please remember to check it out.

Reservations are to be picked up within 7 days, except for mobile libraries, the Vesanka and the Lohikoski library, where the pick-up time is 14 days. You will receive a pick-up notification from the library when the item you have reserved is available for collection at the library. The last date for picking up the book is indicated in the pick-up notification. The pick-up notification will be sent by e-mail, SMS or letter, depending on your choice. You can check and change the notification method in the online library.

The normal reservation is for the material of the library of the municipality selected as the pick-up location. The regional reservation is for all the Keski libraries and will be transported to the collection point of your choice.

It usually takes a few days for the reserved material to arrive at the collection point between the Jyväskylä branches. From other Keski libraries, regionally reserved material arrives at the main library of the city of Jyväskylä twice a week. The delivery time for regional reservations is approximately one to two weeks, depending on the time of the reservation.

Notification of an upcoming due date 

You can receive a free email reminder of an upcoming due date 1–5 days before the due date if you provide your email address to the library or save it in your personal information in the online library. The due date reminder is an additional service, but if you do not receive it, for example due to a technical problem, it does not remove your obligation to renew or return your loans before the due date. You are also responsible for any late fees that have accumulated.

Overdue reminders

The library will send you an overdue reminder when seven days have passed since your loan is due. For items borrowed from a mobile library, an overdue reminder will be sent 14 days after the due date. At this point, you can still renew your loans. 

If the material is reserved, the library will send you an overdue reminder two days after the due date. You cannot renew a reserved item.

A fee of 2.00 EUR per overdue reminder will be added to your account.

If you wish, you can receive the first overdue reminder by e-mail or SMS. You can choose to have the messages delivered at the library branches or make the changes yourself in the online library.

The second overdue reminder is always sent by letter. It will be sent after 25 days have passed since the first overdue reminder. At this point, you can no longer renew loans. At the same time, the lending and reservation bans come into force. If the borrower is under 15 years of age, the overdue reminder is sent to the guarantor and the ban on borrowing takes effect for both.

When about four weeks have passed since the second overdue notification, the collection process is transferred to a collection agency, which continues to claim the items. You can return the borrowed items throughout the recall and collection process. After you have returned the loans, you will still have to pay the overdue fines and collection costs.