Circulation Policy

To check items out from the library, bring them to the desk along with your card. A library employee will check them out to you. In order to check out items, your account must not have more than $1 in fines and fees.

Most items circulate for a period of two weeks, with a one-week grace period, and may be renewed repeatedly provided there is not a hold (reserve) on the item. However, certain items have special rules, covered below.

Fines are not charged for items that are returned or renewed within the grace period, but once the grace has expired fines are charged for every day that the library was open from the due date to the date that the item was returned or renewed. (Items returned in the book drop overnight count as having come back the previous evening, even if they come back after midnight. Once we open in the morning, however, the next day starts.)

Videos, whether on videotape (VHS) or video disc (DVD), circulate for one week, except for new releases, which go out for just three days. There is no grace period on videos. Please return your movies on time so that someone else can have a chance to check them out. Videos can be renewed one time, if no one has placed a hold on them. (New releases almost always have a hold, however, so don't count on being able to renew them.) You may have up to 10 video tapes and 5 DVDs checked out at a time; up to two of them may be new releases.

Books that are on interlibrary loan may not be renewed. Please return interlibrary loan books on time so that they can be shipped back to the lending library.

Audio books circulate just like regular books.

There is a limit of five Music CDs that you may have checked out at any given time, but they check out for two weeks with a one-week grace period and may be renewed repeatedly, like books.

There is a limit of ten magazine back-issues that you may have checked out at any given time, but they go out for two weeks with a one-week grace period and may be renewed repeatedly, like books.

The following items may not be checked out, but may be used within the library: reference books (including those kept on the atlas stand and behind the desk), newspapers, the most recent issue of each magazine, microfilm, equipment (e.g., computers, furniture, microfilm reader, ...), and some of the local history items in the Ohio Room.

If you need to renew your items, you may do it in person at the desk, by phone, or using the web catalog. (To renew using the web catalog you will need your library card number and password to log in.)

If something you want is not available because someone else has it checked out, you can place a hold on the item, and we'll save it for you and call you when your turn comes up. Holds may be placed at the desk, by phone, or on the web catalog. (To place holds on the web catalog you will need your library card number and password.)

If the library does not have a specific book that you want to read, there are two ways we may be able to get it for you. If the book was published more than six months ago, we may be able to get it for you on interlibrary loan. This is the fastest way for us to get a book for you if we don't have a copy. However, if there is a new book you want to read, you should ask a library employee to check whether we have it on order, and if not to write up a purchase request. This takes longer than interlibrary loan, but it is more reliable for books that were only published recently.