Access to Materials
AM 100 Borrowing
Adopted Date:
07/85
Revised Date(s):
09/86
01/88
04/92
09/92
01/93
10/94
07/99
12/99
08/00
10/04
10/10
08/14
08/16
06/17
10/19
06/20
05/21
04/24
Revision Type:
- To borrow materials, guests must be registered Metropolitan Library System account holders without a block on their account. Guests may not register for more than 1 account.
- Maximum Items Borrowed
- For most accounts, a maximum of 100 physical items can be on loan at once; ONEcard account holders may have a maximum of 10 physical items on loan at once.
- See AM 200 Interlibrary Loan for limits on borrowing materials through interlibrary loan.
- Service providers working in partnership with the library system to provide materials in electronic formats may set their own borrowing limits.
- Loan Periods and Renewals
- Most library materials may be checked out for 3 weeks.
- Providing there is not a hold on the material, materials can be auto renewed up to 3 times.
- See AM 200 Interlibrary Loan for the loan period and renewal policy for materials borrowed through interlibrary loan.
- Lost or Damaged Materials
- Once an item is 60 days overdue, the item is considered lost.
- The borrower who damages, loses, or does not return an item must pay the replacement cost as determined by the library system.
- Over-Threshold Accounts
- Once any material is 29 days overdue, the account will be blocked from borrowing additional material.
- Once material goes into the lost status, the account will be blocked from borrowing additional material.
- Once fees on the account for damaged materials or overdue fines accrue to $50 or more, the account will be blocked from borrowing additional material until the fees are paid below the $50 threshold.
- Materials and fines that have been on the account for 5 years or more will be removed from accounts (waived) on an ongoing monthly basis.
- After reasonable notification, the library system may take legal steps to retrieve unreturned materials, and/or file felony or misdemeanor complaints.
- Holds
- Library guests may place up to 50 of most materials on hold at a time.
- Service providers working in partnership with the library system to provide materials in electronic formats may set their own hold limits.
- The Metropolitan Library Commission authorizes the Chief Executive Officer to establish procedures to administer this policy.
Previous Versions & Supporting Files:
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Comments
d.If a customer has forgotten his/her card and does not know the number, staff should check circulation records to verify that the customer is a registered borrower without a block against his/her account. The customer must then show acceptable identification equal to that required for obtaining a library account.
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Currently a member is to show proof of address any time they forget their library card and need access to their account.
It is difficult to explain, when a member has a valid picture ID, why it is not strong enough proof for them to access their account.
So this isn't in this P&P, but as far as I can tell the "circulation renewal policy" is still in force, prohibiting circulation from checking an item out to a customer once it has been renewed twice. I think this needs to formally disappear--customers have found numerous workarounds to avoid this (such as having a spouse put the desired item on hold, dropping it through the sorter, then having us retrieve the item for them). Can the P&P formally abolish this frustrating policy, and allow circulation to check out an item if it is physically present, regardless of renewals?
http://my.metrolibrary.info/drupal/sites/default/files/meeting_minutes/l...
Can we look into two three-week checkout periods instead of three two-week checkouts? It's the same (potential) six-week checkout period, with half the hassle.
I agree on both accounts!
- why not let members renew materials more than twice if the item isn't requested by anyone? At least if it is checked out it is being used by someone as opposed to sitting on the shelf with no circulation.
- two weeks is a short amount of time to read long books, especially if renewing isn't permitted. Thinking about the "long books" that are currently popular: Game of Thrones, Outlander, last few Harry Potter books, etc. - those would be tough to read in two weeks.
As a library aide, I find it interesting that there are two separate limits for loaned and reserved items. Currently, "For most accounts, a maximum of 30 physical items can be on loan to one borrower at a time..." and this number does not include items on reserve; which ultimately allows members to "occupy" up to 60 items. While I completely understand the importance of our first core value (Members First), I feel it is almost a direct violation of one of our rules of conduct which is "Monopolizing library space, equipment, materials, or facilities preventing others from using them..." Which consequently contradicts our fourth core value, Freedom to Learn. Because of this, would it be possible to decrease the number of items members are allowed to reserve or somehow have it included in the loaned items?
There is also a loophole where you can have 30 items on the hold shelf, 30 items in queue, and then as soon as one of the items in queue becomes available for the member to pick up they can place another item on hold. So the member can upwards to 60+ items on hold for them. I know that at the NW Library there is a member who often has that happen.
Destiny - some background info on holds - at one time there was no limit on the number of items you could put on hold but a limit on how many items you could have checked out (I forgot how many but it was before 2004.)
Then when we got music DVDs, a few members had well over 100 of them on hold, that's when the limit of 30 came into play.
Just some FYI
D. 2. Borrowers will be charged $5 per hour to a maximum of $60 for electronic devices.
Could you go into more detail about which devices will be charged the $5 per hour? Is it only a late fee for overdue electronic items, or is it a fee to use the iPads, etc?