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Books

Use our quick reference page below to find out about our books - how to search our catalogue, how to request books, and how to return them. If your query isn't listed, please get in touch with us.

Become a library member to start borrowing

You'll need to join our Libraries in order to start borrowing books - you just need to fill out a short registration form. Find out how to join.

  • After registration you'll receive a welcome email containing your Library Account details. 
  • Your Library Account enables you to log in to our catalogue at SouthEastLibrarySearch to renew your loans and request books, articles, and literature searches.

If you're already a member and are unsure of your account details, please contact your library. 


  • In your library - subject headings are displayed at the end of each row of book shelves. Library staff are always happy to help with any queries if you can't find what you're looking for. 
  • On our catalogue - enter key words or a book title to search our online catalogue. Results will show from our three EKHUFT Libraries as well as healthcare libraries across Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Each entry will show whether the book is currently available 'on shelf' or out on loan; links to ebooks will be shown where applicable.  

If you can't find a particular book, or are having trouble finding books on a certain subject, talk to a member of library staff as we can usually track it down for you from other libraries in our network for you to borrow as an Inter-Library Loan

Books requested from within our own Trust libraries take 1 - 2 working days to arrive, and around 3 - 5 working days from libraries in our regional and national networks.

Inter-Library Loans are free to you, no matter where we borrow from.

  • Requesting a book not held by us - ask staff at your site library or call or email us with the details. 
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  • You can borrow up to 10 items at any one time.  
  • All books can be borrowed for a 4-week period, with two renewals possible. We do allow informal third renewals if required, provided that the books haven't been reserved by other library users. 

You can view your full check out history by logging in to your Library Account, then select your borrowing history.

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  • You can also renew by asking staff at your site library, or you can call or email us with the details. 
  • You can renew each book twice, provided it hasn't been reserved by another library member.
  • We allow informal third renewals if required, and provided that the books haven't been reserved by other library users.

You can return books to any of the three libraries within East Kent Hospitals Trust, as follows:

In person - the easiest way to return books is to call in to any of our three libraries and return them either at the library desk, or in the designated Book Return Boxes.

Via internal mail - all EKHUFT staff are able to use the internal mail system to return their books. In order to ease the process, please send them back to the particular library you borrowed them from.

Via external mail - if you cannot easily get to one of our libraries, you can also send books back to us via Royal Mail or other courier service. Where possible, please send these as recorded deliveries.

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  • Log in to your Library Account. Select the book you want from your search results to view its detailed record. Select place a reservation from the menu, and you'll be taken to a confirmation page where you can select which library to have your book sent to.
  • Please note - you can select any book from any of the libraries across the Kent, Surrey, and Sussex region. Reservations will be picked up and sent to your library for collection.

If you can't find a particular book, or are having trouble finding books on a certain subject, just talk to a member of library staff as we can usually track it down for you from other libraries in our networks for you to borrow as an Inter-Library Loan. 

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We have various collections of ebooks available from a range of publishers. To view them all, and for instructions on how to access them, visit our ebooks page

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No, we stopped charging fines for overdue books permanently on 9th August 2021. 
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Yes, we send underdue alerts two days before the due date of a book. We send an overdue alert every week that a book has gone past its due date, up to six weeks when you will get a final reminder.

Please note that if we don't hear from you within 7 days of your six-week final reminder, you may be invoiced for the replacement of the books. 

These alerts are emailed to you by default, but you can also choose to have them sent as free SMS text messages. If you don't already have this enabled on your account, please contact library staff and we can activate it for you.

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We welcome suggestions for titles to add to our stock! If you think a book would be beneficial to our library for departmental and staff use, just let us know - email or call with the details.