Meeting the growing demand of its members, the Sharjah Public Library (SPL), which is a subsidiary of the Sharjah Book Authority, has announced an increase in the borrowing limit for its members, across all its branches.

Under the newly stipulated limit, people older than 18 years, in the single membership category, can borrow up to 10 books, while postgraduate students in the same category can borrow up to 15 books. Children and people in the special needs’ category can borrow 10 books, while people with family memberships are allowed 20 books. Institute memberships are allowed a maximum of 25 books if they are from a government entity, while academic institutions in this category, can borrow up to 50 books.

Members under the individual and family categories can upgrade their membership to ‘Smart Membership’, to make use of ‘Kanopy’, a video-on-demand platform that offers viewers a large collection of award-winning films and documentaries and ‘LinkedIn Learning’, an open online course offering video classes, taught by industry experts to develop software, creative, and business skills.

Eman Bushleibi, Director of SPL commented: “We are constantly working on ways to offer and enhance our services to a broader spectrum of our members, in order to help knowledge seekers, enabling them in their academic and scientific quests. The increased borrowing limit is intended to provide members with more title options, so that they can carry greater number of books home and go through them in the comfort of their houses.

In order to avail this newly amended facility, people need to be members of the library and hold a valid borrowing card that can be acquired by paying a one-time scientific awareness fees for AED 10. Children under the age of 16, require the consent of their guardians for getting this card made. The return policy for borrowed library books stipulates a period of two weeks, which can be extended twice over the phone, through email or by using the SPL website.

In addition, SPL provides a self-service book return machine. The round-the-clock, weeklong service, gives its members an opportunity to return borrowed books as per their convenience, by simply dropping it off at the machine. The service was launched as part of SPL’s digitisation efforts.