How to get a library card
We offer library cards free of charge to year-round and seasonal residents in our region, regardless of your town of residence. One-time visitors may receive a temporary card for a $20 fee that is refundable at the end of your visit.
Please bring a current photo ID when you sign up for a card. Children may receive a card with parent or guardian permission.
Library cards expire once per year to ensure that our contact information stays current. You may stop in or call the library to renew your card.
For more information about lending rules, see our circulation policy page.
We are part of the statewide Minerva consortium, a shared catalog of more than 60 libraries statewide. You can request materials from any library in the system and they will be delivered to our library.
Searching the Catalog
You can search the Northeast Harbor Catalog and all of Minerva to find items in the state of Maine.
If you do not find what you are looking for in our catalog, you can expand the search to “All Minerva Locations” to search all of Minerva.
Requesting Items
If you find what you’re looking for when you search the catalog, you will be able to request a hold from home or by contacting the library. Items in the Northeast Harbor Library catalog will be pulled and held at the circ desk; items from another Minerva library will be requested and sent to the Northeast Harbor Library for you to pick up here.
If you see that copies are available, you can request them by selecting “Request” – if Northeast Harbor Library has a copy available, it will go to a Northeast Harbor Library patron before it goes to patrons at other libraries. To request the item, you will be prompted for your name and patron barcode (14 digits starting with 24660, located on the back of your library card.) If you do not know your patron barcode, please contact the library. When you request an item, a confirmation message will appear and you will be notified when your hold is ready for pickup.
If you are unable to find what you want in the Northeast Harbor Library or Minerva, please contact the library, email neh-ill@nehlibrary.org or fill out our Item Request Form and we can do a wider search to find the item for you. We can find most items!
Reciprocal Borrowing & Physical Library Cards
With your Northeast Harbor Library Card, you can walk into another participating library and borrow items. Those items can be returned to any participating library. Not all Minerva libraries are participating in Reciprocal Borrowing; locally, Southwest Harbor Public Library and Jesup Memorial Library (Bar Harbor) are both participants. You will need to present a valid library card in good standing in order to borrow items at other libraries.
Checking Out
Physical library cards are required in the Minerva system. Please stop by to request one if you don’t currently have a physical card.
Items can be renewed once; if you need more time after your renewal period, please let library staff know and we can check availability of the item and possibly grant additional renewals.
| Items | Checkout | Renewal |
| Books, Magazines, Audiobooks, CDs, DVDs & Blu-Rays, CD & DVD Players | 21 Days | 14 Days |
| Telescopes, Board Games | 7 Days | 7 Days |
| Museum Passes | 7 Days | 0 Days |
| Ipads, Sports Equipment | In-House | 0 Days |
Overdues
If there are no holds for other patrons on an item, we are happy to override the hold limit let you keep the item for longer. If there are holds, we can place a hold request for you to get the next available copy of the item.
Our system will send you an item due reminder 2 days before the due date. If an item is not returned on time, it is overdue. After 5 days overdue, you will receive a first notice. After 10 days overdue, you will receive a second notice. After 20 days overdue, you will be sent a bill for an item. Once you are billed for an item, your account is blocked and you will not be able to participate in reciprocal borrowing. We do not charge overdue fees, however, for interlibrary loan items. There may be fees applied from the lending library.
We understand that life gets busy and things happen; if you are unable to return a book or pay the fees, please let us know – we want to work with you to resolve the issue. If a book is lost or damaged, we ask that you pay the cost of replacing the item. Please let us know if this is a hardship for you.
Your Account
In Minerva, you can:
- See your circulation history (you must log in, select “Reading History” at the bottom of the menu on the left to opt-in to this feature)
- Build preferred searches and title lists
- Receive SMS notices (patrons must opt-in for SMS notices; we recommend sticking with email)
- See current checkouts and renew items from home
- Place, suspend and cancel holds from home
To login to your account, you will need your patron barcode (14 digits starting with 24660, located on the back of your library card.) If you do not know your patron barcode, please contact the library. The link below will open the Minerva site in a new tab, where you can login.