POLICY STATEMENT CONCERNING BORROWING MATERIALS & PLACING HOLDS

HANNIBAL FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Effective: 

Adopted:  December 9, 2013

Amended:  April 11, 2016

 

The purpose of establishing loan periods for library materials is to balance a patron's need to use materials for a reasonable period of time against the desire to have materials available at Hannibal Free Public Library to meet demand.  This policy establishes loan periods for circulating materials and identifies conditions under which reference materials and equipment may circulate.  It also identifies when materials may be renewed and whether holds may be placed on materials.

 

Patrons may not borrow additional items, renew items, or place holds on items until their records are in good standing.  This means, for example, that overdue materials must be returned and their fines paid, and/or replacement fees paid for lost items.  More information may be found in the Library’s Policy Statement Concerning Fees Charged by the Library & How They Are Collected. 

 

Teachers, book discussion groups, and others may request that the Library designates specific titles as non-circulating or short-loan for a period of time.   The designation is at the sole discretion of the Library Director or designee.

 

The Library Director and/or Library staff will determine how to effectively post this policy.  Depending on the location, the policy may be posted in its entirety, or broken into logical segments and partly posted.  In either case, the concepts contained within reflect the decision and will of the Hannibal Free Public Library Board of Trustees.

 

REGULAR LOAN MATERIALS

 

Most circulating items in Hannibal Free Public Library’s collection are regular loan materials.  Formats include:  circulating books, audiobooks, music CDs, children’s book and AV kits, comic books, circulating jigsaw puzzles, and most magazines.  Exceptions are identified below.

 

The Library typically circulates regular loan materials for 28 days (4 weeks).  A maximum of 75 items may be borrowed by an individual at any one particular time.  In addition, there is a limit of five items by one author or on one subject at any one particular time.  Patrons may borrow up to fifteen circulating magazines at any one time, with a limit of five issues per title.  There is no lifetime limit on the number of items that an individual may borrow. 

 

Regular-loan materials not on hold for another patron may be renewed for one additional 28-day loan period.  Requests to renew items may be made in person, over the phone, by fax, or via email.  Self-service renewals may be made through the Library’s on-line catalog at www.hannibal.lib.mo.us.

 

 Borrowers are limited to one circulating jigsaw puzzle at a time.  No holds may be placed on circulating jigsaw puzzles by the public.

Under ordinary circumstances, materials to be renewed do not need to be present.   Patrons wishing to renew materials will be asked to provide their library barcode number and/or the items’ barcode numbers.

 

SHORT-LOAN MATERIALS

 

Short-loan materials include videos, DVDs, Bi-Folkal Kits and other adult programming kits, and Adult Literacy manual and video and/or DVD kits.  These items circulate for seven days and may be renewed for one additional 7-day loan period.

 

A maximum of five videos and/or DVDs may be borrowed on each borrower’s card at any one time.  A maximum of two Bi-Folkal Kits or Literacy Kits may be borrowed at any one time.  There is no lifetime limit on the number of items a patron may borrow.

 

CDs, CD-ROMs, and DVDs found in the back of books in the circulating book collection are loaned as part of the book. Please see Regular Loan Materials, above.  DVDs in children’s book kits are also considered Regular Loan Materials.

 

Materials may be designated non-circulating or short-loan to meet the need of teachers requesting in-library or circulating reserve collections.  Book discussion groups and similar organizations may also request short-loan designations.

 

REFERENCE AND OTHER NON-CIRCULATING MATERIALS

 

Reference materials are so designated in the adult and children’s collections, and these materials typically do not circulate.  The Missouri Room collection is non-circulating.   Most programming materials (early childhood toys, puppets, pop-up books, etc.) are also non-circulating.

 

The current issue of each magazine is designated non-circulating until a more recent issue arrives.  Newspapers are non-circulating.  Patrons must sign for in-building use of the current issue of some magazines and most newspapers. 

 

Arrangements to borrow certain Reference materials may be requested.  Loans are made at the sole discretion of the Library Director or designee, and conditions of loan are handled on a case-by-case basis.  Patrons requesting the loan of Reference materials are encouraged to make arrangements in advance.

Materials may be designated as non-circulating for a period of time while cataloging and processing them, repairing them, tracking down missing parts for them, and for other similar reasons. 

 

INTERLIBRARY LOAN MATERIALS

 

Materials are frequently borrowed from other libraries for use by our patrons.  Hannibal Free Public Library does not determine the loan period of Inter-Library Loan (ILL) items.  Instead, the owning library establishes how long materials may be kept. When setting the due date for patrons, Hannibal Free Public Library subtracts the time necessary to return materials to the owning library. Materials borrowed via interlibrary loan may or may not be renewable.  Patrons need to make request renewals in advance of the due date. 

 

EQUIPMENT

 

Most circulating equipment may be kept for four (4) days unless arrangements for a longer loan have been made with the Library Director or designee.  Circulating equipment is not renewable. 

 

Non-circulating equipment must remain in the building and used for its intended purpose.

 

Public use computers must remain in the building.  They may be checked out for one hour and renewed until closing time unless others are waiting to use a computer.  More information may be found in the Library’s Policy Statement Concerning Public Use of Computers. 

 

EPHEMERAL PAPERBACKS

 

The Library maintains a small collection of adult mass-market paperbacks that are not cataloged.  The Library checks out these paperbacks only to collect circulation statistics.  Patrons are free to keep or return them.

 

ELECTRONIC MATERIALS

 

Hannibal Free Public Library participates in consortia that circulate electronic books, digital audiobooks, etc. The consortia place limits on the number of items that may be borrowed at a particular time, on renewals, etc.  Information about these materials may be obtained at the service desks. 

 

EXTENDED LOANS

 

Patrons may request an extended loan period for vacation and similar reasons.  Arrangements for extended loans must be made in advance. The Library Director or designee will determine the due dates and which materials may be borrowed as extended loans.

 

ROTATING COLLECTIONS

 

Rotating collections are intended to make it easier for classroom teachers, nursing homes, and others to share reading materials with their students or clients.  Up to three Rotating Collections at any one time may be borrowed on a Teacher Card.  Corporate Card holders may arrange with the Library Director to borrow up to ten Rotating Collections at one time.

 

Each Rotating Collection contains up to 25 regular-loan materials (books, magazines, and/or audios, but not DVDs) on several topics.  There is a limit of five titles per collection on any particular topic.  Additional limits may be applied on a case-by-case basis at the Library Director’s or designee’s discretion. 

 

Rotating Collections may be assembled by the card holder and/or library staff.  Because of the volume of materials involved, arrangements for Rotating Collections must be made in advance and coordinated with library staff.

 

Rotating Collections circulate for 28 days and, if items are not on hold for someone else, may be renewed for an additional 28 days.   The Teacher Card or Corporate Card holder must pick up and deliver, and must supply bins or other means to collect and transport Rotating Collections.   

 

HOLDS

 

Holds may be placed on regular-loan materials, short-loan materials, and circulating equipment.  Requests to place holds may be made in person, over the phone, by fax, or via email.  Self-service holds may be placed through the Library’s on-line catalog at www.hannibal.lib.mo.us. 

 

Holds may be placed on materials in circulation to other patrons, or checked in and available on the shelf.  Holds may also be placed on items that are on order or in processing.  Patrons may also phone one of the service desks and request that materials be pulled and set aside as holds.   

 

Suggestions for purchase may be made at either service desk.  These become holds when the items are ordered or otherwise acquired.

 

Holds are filled in the order they are placed.  Materials with holds are trapped as quickly as possible. However, even if the material is on the shelf, Library staff needs a certain amount of time to process holds, and a patron who retrieves an item from the shelves shall be permitted to check out the material even if it is on hold for another patron. 

 

Once materials on hold for a specific patron are trapped, they are held at one of the service desks until checked out or for a maximum of five days.  Checking out a hold follows the same procedures as other borrowing:  the patron must present the borrower’s card on which the hold was placed.  

 

Patrons can cancel holds at any time.  Requests to cancel holds may be made in person, over the phone, by fax, or via email.  Holds may be cancelled through the Library’s on-line catalog at www.hannibal.lib.mo.us. 

 

Holds are auto-expired after six months.  Patrons can establish shorter expiration dates for holds or merely rely on the auto-expire feature. 

 

AUTHORITY

 

This policy replaces the following policy:

 

Borrowing Policies, adopted before August 2007 and published on the Library’s website

 

The Missouri Revised Statutes (RSMO}182.230 (2013) provides that

 

Every library and reading room established under sections 182.140 to 182.301 shall be forever free to the use of the inhabitants of the city where located, always subject to such reasonable rules and regulations as the library board may adopt in order to render the use of the library and reading room of the greatest benefit to the greatest number. The board may exclude from the use of the library and reading room any and all persons who willfully violate such rules. The board may extend the privileges and use of the library and reading room to persons residing outside of the city in this state, upon such terms and conditions as the board, from time to time, by its regulations, may prescribe.

 

This policy has been adopted by the Hannibal Free Public Library Board of Trustees under its statutory authority to determine and govern the use of the Library’s facilities.