Dates to request or return books
Find out when you need to request books from our school lending service or return those you've borrowed from us each term.
Upcoming dates to note
You have until 23 August 2024 to submit your term 3 topics selection and extra reading requests for inquiry and reading resources. Request early so your books arrive early!
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2023–2024 request and return dates
Term | Loan request period | Due date (for return) |
|---|---|---|
2 | 11 March to 31 May | 5 July |
3 | 4 June to 23 August | 27 September |
4 | 26 August to 15 November | 14 February 2025 |
For technical reasons, loan request periods open on a Saturday as shown on your online dashboard. The table on this web page gives the opening date as a Monday as we don’t expect you to be working on the weekend. Also, any changes to lending options (such as allocations) take effect on a Monday. We’ll update any requests made over the weekend to reflect changes or contact you about your request.
How our request and return periods work
Diagram description
This diagram shows how the request and return periods are scheduled during the school year. Key points in the diagram:
Loan request periods open before each term starts.
Books are due back at the end of the term they were borrowed for.
Schools and home educators can request specific titles anytime. Their due dates are the same as the end-of-term dates for the loan request period during which the titles were ordered. Read an example of how this works
Secondary and composite schools, and home educators — books from National Library's Wellington collections are issued for 5 weeks. Return dates are noted on the due date slips in the back of the books.
When to request books each term
Topics selection and extra reading requests
Loan request periods open before each term starts so that you can request books early.
Send us your topics selection requests as soon as they're ready. You can submit multiple requests throughout the term until you've used your full borrowing allocation.
Once a term, school loan coordinators can also request extra books to encourage reading for pleasure — send us this request anytime. If you prefer, you can submit all your topic requests and your extra reading request together as one loan request.
If you miss the cut-off date for submitting the current term's requests, submit them as soon as the new loan request period opens and your books may still arrive in the current term.
We aim to send books within a maximum of 20 working days of receiving your requests. It's often sooner than that, especially if you submit your requests early in the loan request period. Loans typically take 1–3 working days to be delivered once they leave our centres.
Specific title requests
You can request specific books to meet students’ needs anytime during the school year.
Request books now
School loan coordinators — request books
Home educators — how to borrow books from us
When to return books
Books are generally due back to us at the end of the school term you borrowed them for. The exceptions are:
books requested for term 4, which are due back week 2 of term one the following year — so they can be used for summer reading
books from our Wellington lending collections.
The return dates for specific title requests from our Schools Lending Collection are on a printout sent with your books.
Return dates for books from our Wellington lending collections are noted on the due-date slips in the back of the books.
Specific titles from our Schools Lending Collection
Due dates for specific title requests from the Schools Lending Collection are linked to end-of-term return dates for topics selections and extra reading requests.
Refer to the request and return dates table and graphic above and read these examples to understand how this works:
If you requested a specific title on 22 August (within term 3's loan request period), the book is due back to us on 27 September 2024.
If you request this title on 26 August (within term 4's loan request period), its due date is 14 February 2025.
Renewals, overdue books, returning books, return address labels
Renew books, overdue books, lost or damaged books
Any questions or need help?
Phone 0800 LIB LINE 0800 542 5463 Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.