Library Services
Circulation Services

Circulation Policies Summary

Library Access

The Lee and Jim Vann Library serves all of the faculty and staff of the University of Saint Francis and all of the students enrolled in its programs.  The library is also accessible to alumni and those with established relationships or affiliations with the university.  The general public may use the library on a limited basis. 

Borrowing Privileges

Any person who is affiliated with the University of Saint Francis as faculty, staff, student or alumnus may borrow any regularly circulating materials from the library when they present a current University of Saint Francis OneCard or an alumni card.

The faculty, staff, and students of other PALNI member institutions are designated Reciprocal Borrowers and may borrow USF materials as long as they hold a valid ID card with a PALNI barcode.  In addition to PALNI members, USF has a reciprocal borrowing agreement with several libraries in the local area and those presenting a Reciprocal Borrowing card from any of these libraries may borrow USF materials as well.  Reciprocal borrowers are given the same borrowing privileges as USF students and alumni.  Other guests, while free to use the library, may not check out materials. 

Access to certain materials may be restricted per faculty request for coursework.  All materials must be returned at the end of the current academic term whether or not they are overdue.          

Limits on Materials

Students and Alumni

   Students and alumni may check out a maximum of 23 items.  The limit for books is 20 volumes and the limit for videos/DVDs is 3. 

Faculty and Staff

    Faculty and staff may check out a maximum of 53 items.  The limit for books is 50 volumes and the limit for videos/DVDs is 3.

Loan Periods

Students and Alumni

  Students, alumni may check out books for a period of 3 weeks with two renewals.  They may check out Videos/DVDs for a period of 7 days with one renewal.

Faculty and Staff

   Faculty may check out books for a period of 30 days with 2 renewals.   They may check out Videos/DVDs for a period of 7 days with 1 renewal.  Faculty and staff are not charged fines but will be charged for lost materials.  Materials not returned in a timely manner will be considered lost after the third notice.

Reciprocal Borrowers

    Reciprocal borrowers are given the same borrowing privileges as students and alumni. 

Renewals

The number of renewals allowed is the same for all borrowers:

   Books – 2 renewals
   Videos/DVDs – 1 renewal

Renewals are not permitted for those materials for which a HOLD has been requested or when a borrower has accumulated $5.00 or more in overdue and lost item fines. 
Renewals may be completed in person, over the phone or online.  Renewals for overdue materials cannot be made online.

Overdue Fines and Notices

Circulating materials:  $.10 per day per item with no grace period

Reserve materials:  $1.00 per day per item with no grace period

Videos/DVDs:  $1.00 per day per item with no grace period

Fines of $5.00 or more will result in the loss of borrowing privileges.  The maximum overdue fine for circulating and reserve materials is $5.00 per item.   

For circulating and reserve materials, notices will be mailed out seven days, fourteen days, and twenty-one days after the item is due.  The fourth notice is mailed twenty-eight days after the material is due and is considered a cost of replacement bill.  The cost of the replacement may not be the actual cost of the item but rather the cost of the newest edition or comparable item, plus a $5.00 processing fee. 

·        Interlibrary Loans:  $1.00 per day per item with no grace period

Fines of $5.00 or more will result in the loss of borrowing privileges.  The maximum overdue fine for interlibrary loans is $10.00 per item.

For overdue interlibrary loan materials, patrons will be notified regularly until the materials are returned or the account settled.  Damaged or lost materials will be billed by the loaning institution.

Claimed Returned

In the event that a patron claims to have returned materials which still show on his or her record, the patron will be responsible for locating and returning the materials.  Patrons will be given 6 weeks or until the end of the semester (whichever is longer) to locate the materials and turn them in.  The library will also conduct at least 10 searches in this time period.  At that time, if the materials still have not been located, the patron will be billed the replacement cost plus a handling fee. A hold will be placed on the patron’s record until the replacement costs and fee are paid or the materials are found.  The patron has the option of appealing the bill with the Librarian Assistant, who is in charge of circulation services. The replacement cost will be refunded if the patron finds and returns the material within a year of paying for the material.  The processing fee is non-refundable.

Lost Materials

Materials may be declared lost three ways: by the patron, after the grace period of a claimed returned process, or after four weeks overdue.  Materials that are lost will be billed to the patron for both the replacement cost and a five dollar processing fee.  Students and alumni will not be removed from hold with the registrar’s office until this bill is paid or the materials are returned.  If the patron returns the materials, both the replacement cost and processing fee will be waived and overdue fines will be assessed.  If the patron finds the material and returns it within one year from the date of payment, the replacement cost will be refunded but not the processing fee.

Library Hold

Students and alumni will have a library hold placed on their record if they have:

            Fines of $5 or more OR

            Outstanding (overdue) materials

Students and alumni with a library hold will be denied registration for new classes, transcripts of grades, and diplomas until their records have been cleared.   These patrons are also prohibited from checking out new materials.

The Librarian Assistant handles the addition and removal of library holds in both Jenzabar and Aleph.  The Librarian Assistant must be informed immediately when a user has returned materials and/or paid fines and may be removed from hold status.  If the Librarian Assistant is not available, any staff member can remove a hold, but only the Acquisitions/Reference Librarian or Systems Librarian can add a hold.  The hold will be removed from both Aleph and Jenzabar and the Librarian Assistant will be informed of the change in the patron’s record.

The Librarian Assistant also maintains a list of patrons who are on library hold.  This list is periodically checked to ensure accuracy and is saved on the U drive.

Those faculty and staff who have outstanding materials at the time employment is terminated will be contacted to return the materials immediately or pay current replacement costs plus a processing fee.  However, a deduction from the last pay can be made only for those who have signed a deduction authorization.

Reserve Collection

The reserve collection consists of materials requested or brought in to the library by faculty for use by students in their classes.  The faculty member sets the borrowing period and any other limitations for reserve items.  Users who check out these materials are responsible for the items and fines accrued.  Students must have a current USF ID card to check out material from the reserve collections.  Reserve items cannot be used unless they are checked out.

9/6/07