One Library Card

One card, three boroughs, one million books

If you live, work or study in Westminster, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea or Hammersmith & Fulham, you can now access more than 1 million books and a range of specialist collections.

Westminster City Council, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham Council launched the ‘One Library Card’ system on 3 October 2012. The tri-borough councils agreed last year to share the management of several of their departments, including libraries, to save money and protect frontline services.

You can use your existing library card to borrow books and access a full range of facilities at any of the 21 libraries across the three boroughs. So for example, someone living or working in Westminster will then be able to use their existing Westminster library card to borrow books from Fulham Library (in H&F) or Chelsea Library (in RBKC).

The benefits of the new One Library Card do not just stop at borrowing books. Residents, workers and students in the three boroughs will now be able to do all of the following:

• Borrow books, DVDs, CDs and games from any tri-borough library
• Use computers at any library across the three boroughs - there are a total of 470 PCs available for public use. (Full remote access to online databases and electronic subscriptions requires a membership of the library that hosts the resource).
• Use study facilities in any library
• Benefit from better opening hours – for example, nine libraries open on a Sunday across the three boroughs
• Attend events at any library, including events for babies and children
• Join reading groups or other activity groups at any library (including the Triborough-wide Text Tribe reading group)
• Access specialist collections across the three boroughs, including some rare items and items of national significance. Collections include the music collection at Victoria Library, fashion collection at Chelsea Library, art and design collection at Westminster Reference Library and a collection of fine art books at Fulham Library.