Paying Fees

Outstanding fees can be paid at your library at any time or you can wait for the invoice.

Invoices are sent out monthly by SLSP (Swiss Library Service Platform). You will receive an invoice if you have used a chargeable service in the month before last, e.g. services used in March will be invoiced in May. Invoices for fees incurred up to the end of October 2025 will be issued monthly by SLSP (Swiss Library Service Platform). Fees incurred from the beginning of November 2025 onward will be invoiced by the Canton of Lucerne. If the invoice is not paid, your account will be blocked.

If a user account is blocked, you can no longer order, borrow or reserve media or renew the lending period. A block will be removed as soon as the items in question have been returned or the outstanding fees have been paid.

• Reminder: free of charge (on the 1st day after due date)
• 1st recall: CHF 5.00 per item (one week after the reminder)
• 2nd recall: additional CHF 5.00 per item (one week after the 1^st recall)
• 3rd recall: additional CHF 10.00 per item (two weeks after the 2^nd recall)

Reminder letters are usually sent by E-mail. After the 3rd recall, your user account will be automatically blocked. The media will be considered lost two weeks later and any costs incurred will be charged to you.

If media are lost, the loans will be cancelled and the fees for replacing the items will be charged to your account in swisscovery. From this date the borrowed media will no longer be taken back. These are the fees to pay:

• Replacement: actual costs of the library + processing fee of CHF 30.00
• Any reminder fees remain due

Please note: The library does not accept any replacement media.

• Loss of inserts or parking cards: CHF 10.00
• Damaged or missing plastic boxes: CHF 10.00
• Damaged CD covers (audio books and CD-ROMs): free of charge
• Flat rate for repair costs: CHF 30.00
• Replacement in the event of irreparable damage: see «Fees for media loss»

• Free of charge
• Sent by post: CHF 5.00
• Replacement: free of charge

Central Switzerland Courier (between all ZHB sites, the external storage library and the Pedagogical Media Centre PMZ): free of charge

SLSP Courier (various libraries across Switzerland): CHF 6.00 per item

CHF 12.00 per item to a private or business address

• Non-commercial: CHF 5.00 for an order of 50 pages
• Commercial: CHF 25.00 for an order of 50 pages

A4 format

• b/w CHF 0.10 per copy/print
• color CHF 0.40 per copy/print

A3 format

• b/w CHF 0.20 per copy/print
• color CHF 0.80 per copy/print

Scanning

• free of charge

Copies/scans via copy order form at the ZHB Sempacherstrasse

• CHF 1.00 per per copy/print for copies and scans (A4 or A3)

Original documents

• From Switzerland: each document (volume) CHF 12.00
• From abroad: Europe actual costs (min. CHF 24.00), UK and overseas actual costs (min. CHF 36.00)

 Digitisation

• From Switzerland: CHF 5.00 per article and per 20 pages
• From abroad: electronic delivery CHF 8.00 per 20 pages and paper delivery CHF 10.50 per 20 pages

If there are extraordinary expenses, additional fees will be charged.

Fees for libraries can be found under Interlibrary loan to a library.

Information on scans of material from the Special Collection (incl. fees) can be found on the page Reproductions of the Special Collection at the ZHB Sempacherstrasse.