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Getting a Library Card
You can get a free Somerset County Library System of New Jersey card at any branch if you own property, live, work or attend school in one of our member municipalities.
Apply for a library card online:
Solicite una tarjeta de biblioteca gratis
Download and print a library card application:
Library Card Application – ENGLISH
Library Card Application – SPANISH
Who can get a card?
If you already have a Somerset County Library Card, you do not need to register again. To get a replacement card, visit any SCLSNJ location with one of the following acceptable forms of identification and proof of residency:
- Driver’s license
- Rent receipt
- Lease
- Tax bill
- Utility bill
- Deed
- Voter registration card
- Self‐addressed postcard mailed by the library and returned by the patron (only if no other ID is available)
A child of any age may apply for a library card. The following may serve as proper identification:
- School report card
- School I.D.
- Piece of mail addressed to the minor
- Parent or guardian’s library card
- Parent or guardian’s acceptable ID
- Self‐addressed postcard mailed by the library and returned by the patron (only if no other ID is available)
If the child is without proper identification at the time they apply for a card, the library will issue the card with a three item checkout limit. The library will mail a self-addressed postcard to the child’s home address. When the child returns the card to the library the three item checkout limit will be removed.
You can get a free Somerset County Library System of New Jersey card if you:
- Own property, live, work, or attend school in one of our member municipalities.
- Are a Somerset County Library System employee or retiree.
- Volunteer in a Somerset County Library System facility.
- Are a resident of Somerset County with a disability.
- Are a resident of Somerset County and a veteran.
- Are a literacy volunteer/student using an SCLSNJ facility for tutoring.
- Are a resident of Somerset County, aged 65 or older.
- Serve as a volunteer fireperson, auxiliary police officer, rescue squad member or emergency medical services member in a member municipality.
- Are a New Jersey public or state library worker. Click here to request a NJ State Library Worker Card.
SCLSNJ also offers reciprocal borrowing card options for library card holders in local towns. See the Reciprocal Borrowing section below, or mail ask@sclibnj.org for more information.
- Bound Brook
- Branchburg (including Neshanic Station and North Branch)
- Bridgewater (including Bradley Gardens, Finderne, Green Knoll, and Martinsville)
- Green Brook
- Hillsborough (including Cloverhill, Flagtown, Neshanic, and South Branch)
- Manville
- Millstone
- Montgomery (including Belle Mead, Blawenburg, Harlingen, and Skillman)
- North Plainfield
- Peapack and Gladstone
- Rocky Hill
- Somerville
- South Bound Brook
- Warren Township
- Watchung
Types of Borrowing
If you do not qualify for a free card, please visit one of our branches where you may purchase an annual membership for $60 (as of 3/1/2024).
These fees are reviewed periodically and adjusted to reflect the cost of library taxes paid by an average household in Somerset County.
Anyone can visit SCLSNJ branches, attend programs and use library resources. A valid library card is required to borrow materials.
SCLSNJ partners with area libraries to allow customers to use each other’s resources. Our current reciprocal borrowing partners are:
- Bernards Township Library
- Bernardsville Public Library
- Clarence Dillon Library (serving Bedminster and Far Hills)
- Dunellen Public Library
- Franklin Township Public Library
NEW! County Library System Partners:
- Burlington County Library System
- Camden County Library System
- Hunterdon County Library System
- Sussex County Library System
- Warren County Library System
If you have a valid library card from a reciprocal borrowing partner, bring your home library card and current identification to any SCLSNJ location to sign up.
If you have an SCLSNJ card, visit any reciprocal borrowing partner with your library card and current identification to sign up.
Reciprocal borrowers have access to all SCLSNJ materials and services except:
- Museum passes
- e-books, e-audiobooks, and research databases (due to licensing agreements)
- Interlibrary loan and item purchase requests (request from your home library)
- Meeting rooms
All materials checked out from an SCLSNJ location must be returned at SCLSNJ, and all materials checked out at a partner library must be returned to that library.
Please note: Every library has its own rules, especially regarding DVDs and new items. Contact individual partners for more information about borrowing restrictions and loan periods.
Please let us know immediately if your library card is lost or stolen. We will suspend your card to keep anyone else from using it. Remember you are responsible for any items that are checked out on your card. There is no charge for the first replacement of a lost library card.
Your Privacy
The following information about a library account is given only to the cardholder:
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Current outstanding materials
- Items on hold
People who live in the same household may link their cards. This allows people to have access to others’ accounts, for instance, for parents to have access to their children’s accounts, or for spouses to use each other’s cards. Linking requires all participants’ cards to be presented at the same time.
To help us protect the privacy of all library users, please remember:
When asking for information about reserved or overdue items, or what you have currently checked out, please present your library card or otherwise supply your library card number. A photocopy or a smartphone copy of the barcode also works.
When picking up a reserve for another person (who isn’t linked to your card), you must present the other person’s library card or a copy of it.
Because the privacy statutes apply to all people, regardless of age, SCLSNJ staff can only tell a parent (or guardian, as appropriate) the number of items their child has checked out, not the specific titles. However, parents are still financially responsible for the material their minor child borrows. Thus, parents may want to carry their child’s card, or a photocopy or smartphone copy, with them. Linked cards are also recommended. Other options for parents include: accompanying their child to the library to select materials together; setting guidelines on the number, types, or subject matter of items a child can borrow; or using the parent’s card when borrowing materials.
New Jersey law (NJSA 18A: 73-43.1-3) states that library records which contain the names or other personally identifying details regarding our patrons are confidential, and shall not be disclosed except in limited circumstances. SCLSNJ interprets that to mean information about a borrower’s reading records can only be given to that borrower, and no one else. We will not tell another person whether you even have a library card.
Law enforcement officials are generally required by law to obtain a subpoena or court order before gaining access to a patron’s library records. An exception to this requirement is found in the USA PATRIOT Act, which is a 2001 federal anti-terrorism law that gives law enforcement expanded authority to obtain library records, and secretly monitor electronic communications. These legal requests are extremely rare.
For more information about your privacy, please see the SCLSNJ policy on the [Confidentiality of Library Records] [PDF of Confidentiality of Library Records].