Policies

Regular Circulation Borrowing Privileges

• Scope of Policy
  • This policy establishes guidelines on the nature and extent of borrowing privileges at all of the University of Missouri Libraries except the Law Library. It applies only to circulating stack collections; reserve, reference and those materials which circulate only on discretionary loan are excluded.
• Purpose of Policy
  • The purpose of the policy is to define various borrower categories and to delimit the extent of privileges for each category.
• Definitions
  • Regular Borrowers are those who have official University-issued identification cards. Regular borrowers are currently employed by the University, or are currently enrolled in a credit-bearing course.
  • Courtesy Borrowers are those for whom the Library must prepare a courtesy borrower's card. Examples include Friends of the Libraries, Federal and State employees, faculty/staff/students from other colleges, and people who purchase a courtesy borrower's card.
• Borrowing Regulations
  • University IDs and courtesy borrower's cards must be presented at the Library's Circulation Desk in order to charge out materials. The card must be currently valid at the time it is used.
  • Borrower's cards are not transferable. Individuals are responsible for all materials charged out on their cards, unless the cards are reported to the Library as lost or stolen. Other forms of identification are not acceptable as substitutes.
  • All books are subject to recall after a two-week loan period if requested by another borrower. Materials needed for reserve may be recalled immediately.
  • The Library reserves the right to limit the number of items borrowed.
  • The Library may suspend or revoke an individual's borrowing privileges if regulations are violated.
  • Exceptions to policies may be requested at the Circulation Desk.
• Borrowing Privileges
  • Books
    • Faculty, staff, graduate students: four months at all libraries
    • Undergraduates, courtesy borrowers: one month at all libraries.
  • Bound Journals
    • Faculty, staff, graduate students:
      • 2 hours at Health Sciences, Veterinary Medical
      • 1 day at Ellis, Engineering, Geology, Journalism, Math Sciences
      • 4 months at the Annex, Tate Hall
    • Undergraduates, courtesy borrowers:
      • noncirculating at Ellis
      • 2 hours at Health Sciences, Veterinary Medical
      • 1 day at Engineering, Geology, Journalism, Math Sciences
      • 1 month at the Annex, Tate Hall
  • Unbound Journals
    • Faculty, staff, graduate students:
      • noncirculating at Ellis
      • 2 hours at Health Sciences, Journalism, Veterinary Medical
      • 1 day at Engineering, Geology, Math Sciences
      • 4 months at the Annex, Tate Hall
    • Undergraduates, courtesy borrowers:
      • noncirculating at Ellis
      • 2 hours at Health Sciences, Journalism, Veterinary Medical
      • 1 day at Engineering, Geology, Math Sciences
      • 1 month at the Annex, Tate Hall
  • Other Regular Circulating Materials
    • Maps
      • noncirculating at Ellis
      • 3 days at Geology
    • Microforms
      • noncirculating at Ellis and Journalism
      • 2 days for all borrowers at Engineering, Geology, Math Sciences
    • Recorded Sound
      • 2 weeks for all borrowers at Ellis
• Renewals
  • Books
    • May be renewed an unlimited number of times (unless recalled).
    • Must be presented at the Libraries' Circulation Desk to be renewed. (An exception exists for faculty, who may request renewals by mail. However, a book may be renewed only twice by mail; for further renewal, it must be brought to the library.)
  • Bound or Unbound Journals
    • May not be renewed (except by special permission).
  • Other Regular Circulating Materials
    • May not be renewed (except by special permission).
• Discretionary Loans for Regular Circulating Materials
  • Requests to borrow noncirculating materials or to extend loan periods on circulating items will be considered on a case-by-case basis. As a general rule, faculty/staff/graduate students will routinely be granted an extension of journal loan periods upon request.

Sponsor: Billing and Circulation Policy Review Committee (D. Fisher, B. Hahn, A. Jones, J. Miesse, P. Timberlake, D. Schmidt, and F. Raithel, chair)
Draft Submitted: June 1983
Approved by Library Council: August 18, 1983
Approved by Director of Libraries: August 18, 1983
Revised: April 28, 1989 (Revision sponsored by Marsha Stevenson)