Home Library Service

Our Home Library Service delivers items from our collection to people who have difficulty visiting their local library.

You can choose which items you'd like to borrow, or tell us your interests and we'll pick something for you.

To use this free service, you need to live in the Wollongong City Council area and be temporarily or permanently unable to visit a library because of:

Poor health, injury or immobility
Living with disability
Being a carer
Being frail or aged
Living in a care facility.

How to apply for the Home Library Service

It's free to join the Home Library Service - but before you do, make sure you read our Membership Terms and Conditions.

Apply for Home Library Service

The Home Library Service lets you borrow any items from our large lending collection, across all of our libraries. This includes:

Check our catalogue to see what's available.

If you'd like something we don't have you can also suggest an item for our collection, or ask us if it's available through an inter-library loan.

Borrowing and returning

We'll visit you every four weeks to bring you new items and pick up any you're finished with.

Call us on (02) 4227 7442 or email us to request specific items. We'll add them to your next visit if they're available.

You can also reserve items online through our catalogue. To do this, you'll need to log in with your barcode number and password. If you don't have these details, call us on (02) 4227 7442 and we'll get them for you.

When reserving items online, make sure the pick up location is set to 'home library' and we'll include them in your next delivery once they become available.

Renewals

We can handle renewals for you. Just call (02) 4227 7442, email us, or tell your delivery person if you'd like something renewed.

Making changes

Call us on (02) 4227 7442 if you need to make any changes to your Home Library Service membership, including:

Your borrowing preferences
Your address, phone or email
Stopping the service temporarily (for example if you're sick or will be away) or permanently.

Self-Select Home Delivery

If you can visit a library but you find it hard to carry your library items, you can apply for our Self-Select Home Delivery service. You may need to provide a letter from your doctor or healthcare worker to use this service.

This option lets you visit a library and hand-pick what you'd like to borrow. We'll then deliver the items to your home, and pick up any returns at the same time.

Call or visit your nearest library to find out more.

Assisted borrowing

Our Assisted Borrowing membership lets you nominate one person to use your library card and borrow items for you. This could be a family member, friend or neighbour.

Call or visit your nearest library to set up Assisted Borrowing.

Borrow online items

You can use your library membership to download eBooks, eAudiobooks, digital magazines and information from our databases from the comfort of your home.

We also have a great range of free online courses if you'd like to learn a new skill or expand your knowledge.

The Home Library Service operates thanks to our wonderful volunteers. We welcome new volunteers to join our team.

Volunteer roles include:

Drivers / delivery people. We provide vehicles, but you can also use your own if you prefer.
Passengers, who assist drivers with deliveries
Selectors, who choose and prepare items for borrowing and delivery.

We'll provide training as you go.

You will also need a Working With Children Check and a Police Check to become a volunteer. We'll cover any costs involved in these checks.

To find out more about volunteering with the Home Library Service, call (02) 4227 7442 or see our Volunteer page.