An Auburn Public Library/Lewiston Public Library card is required to borrow material or to use our public access computers and provides access to online services including the Digital Maine Library and the Cloud Library.
Residents of Auburn, Lewiston and Minot may apply for a card online to use for online services only. This card may be activated for borrowing material by visiting the library and showing appropriate identification. If you are under the age of 18 you must be accompanied by parent or guardian to activate your card for borrowing.
Maine Reciprocal Borrowing
Auburn Public Library participates in Maine Reciprocal Borrowing. Members of a library participating in Maine Reciprocal Borrowing may use their local library card to borrow items eligible for Interlibrary Loan at other participating libraries.
Nonresident Cards
All other library cards are issued for a fee for specified durations of up to one year.
A single subscription card may be used by all members of an immediate family.
Current subscription fees are:
- $60 for one year
- $30 for 6 months
- $15 for 3 months
Free Cards
Free Auburn Public Library cards are issued for one year to:
- Residents of Auburn (including Danville), Minot and Lewiston
- Non-resident property tax payers of Auburn, Minot and Lewiston
- Students or employees of Auburn K-12 schools or the Minot public school k-12
- City employees of Auburn and Minot
- Active tutors and students of Literacy Volunteers Androscoggin
- Active volunteers in the BookReach program
- Non-resident library staff members and approved library volunteers.
Library Card Registration
To obtain a library card, a customer must show official verification of identity including their street address.
The staff will use all available sources to verify an applicant’s address. A post office box may be used as a mailing address but may not be used to prove residency.
For applicants under age 18, a parent or legal guardian’s signature is required on the registration form. This signature indicates that the parent/guardian accepts responsibility for the borrowing and return of library materials by the applicant. If a parent or guardian is not present, the registration form is sent home for their signature.
Registration forms are destroyed after the information is entered into the database.
Use and Renewal of Cards
Library cards are not transferable and the person in whose name the card is issued is responsible for all materials checked out on that card. For this reason, loss or theft of a card should be reported to prevent unauthorized use.
All library cards are issued for one year. If a customer moves before their card expires, they may report the change. Otherwise, their information is updated when the card is renewed.
Customers keep the same library card year to year.
A customer should have their library card available to check out materials. However, if a customer does not have their library card present, staff may look up the customer’s registration if they can verify the customer’s identity.
There is a small fee to replace a lost or missing library card.
Your Privacy Matters
Library registrations and transactions are kept in the strictest confidence. The library will not acknowledge to a third party that an individual or organization has a library card unless legally required to do so by an authorized law enforcement agency.
For details, please see the Library’s Privacy and Confidentiality Policy.