Conant Library Policies
Circulation Policy | Laptop Loan Policy | Gift Policy | Electronic Reserves
Circulation Policy
Students and Staff
LOANS:
A valid Nichols College I.D. or Library courtesy card is required to check out any circulating or Reserve items.
The loan period for:
- Books from the regular collection is 21 days.
- Videocassettes, DVDs, audiocassettes is 7 days.
- Audio/visual equipment is 4 hours.
Note: A/V requests should be made at least 48 hours in advance of anticipated use. Audio/visual equipment is picked up and returned to the Circulation Desk by the borrower. Videotaping requests are handled through Mike Kubic (ext. 2223) in the IT Department and require 48 hour advance notice.
Reference books and periodicals generally do not circulate but may be loaned under special circumstances at the discretion of the Library Director.
Patrons can return books any time, by using the book depository, located at the main entrance of the Library.
All circulation records are confidential.
RENEWING AN ITEM:
Items may be renewed twice if no one else has recalled or placed a hold on the item(s). Items may be brought to the Front Desk, renewed by phone (508-213-2334) or email (sandra.lobo@nichols.edu).
RESERVES:
- Reserve materials are placed at the Circulation desk for use by students in their courses. Depending on the instructors' wishes, reserve items are either for 2-hour in-house use or may be loaned overnight (check out 1 hour prior to closing and due 1 hour after opening the next day). Student ID will be held until Reserve item is returned.
- Instructors’ reserve requests for material for courses will have priority over individual reserve requests. Patrons are expected to return any material requested by an instructor within 48 hours of notification.
- Any patron, not finding the material they desire because it has been checked out, may request that the material be reserved at the end of the loan period.
- Patrons are entitled to two reserve items at any one time.
OVERDUES:
No daily fines are collected for overdue material. When an item owned by Conant Library is overdue:
- A first notice informing the patron of the overdue status and providing an opportunity to renew the material is issued via campus mail 7 days after the due date.
- If there is no response 14 days after the due date, a second notice is sent.
- When an item is overdue 21 days a third “long overdue” notice is sent, with a caution that failure to return the item within 7 days will result in a “presumed lost” status with an explanation of the consequences of this status (borrower will be charged a non-refundable replacement cost of item plus a $10 processing fee).
- If a patron fails to respond to the previous “long overdue” notice within the time period specified (7 days), and after the shelf location has been searched, the patron is sent a final “lost” notice informing him or her that that the item is considered lost and he or she will be charged a non-refundable replacement cost of the item plus a $10.00 processing fee. Notice is sent to the Student Accounts Office and until the item and fee are paid borrower will be unable to register for classes or obtain transcripts. After this date, return of the item will not negate the posted costs.
INTERLIBRARY LOAN
Books and copies of articles from journals not owned by Conant Library are available through Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery. Generally, copies of articles become the property of the requesting patron and do not need to be returned. Failure to return books borrowed from other libraries is handled in the same manner as described above for Conant Library-owned items with the additional loss of Interlibrary Loan privileges until the item is either returned or replacement costs and fees are paid.
CIRCULATION POLICY (Faculty)
Faculty borrowing privileges and responsibilities are the same as for students and staff with the following exceptions:
- Faculty may borrow books for an entire semester, subject to recalls.
- For overdue items, failure to return an item after 60 days of the original due date will result in the loss of borrowing privileges until the item is either returned or the replacement costs plus processing fee are paid.
Laptop Loan Policy
Conant Library, in cooperation with the Nichols College Information Technology Department, is pleased to be able to make laptop computers available for use by current Nichols College students, faculty, and staff. Laptops can be checked out at the Circulation desk upon presentation of a valid ID and signing of the User Agreement.
Each laptop comes with an AC adapter, Ethernet cable, a removable CD-ROM drive, a removable rechargeable battery pack, a removable PCMCIA network card, and case. The laptops have limited programs available for use, i.e. Microsoft Office, as well as Internet use.
Guidelines for Borrowing and Use of Laptops
- Borrowers must have a current Nichols College/ photo ID in their possession and be in our computer database.
- Borrowers are required to sign the Laptop User Agreement and initial the Laptop Inventory List during check out.
- The user is financially responsible for loss or damage of the computer and its components and accessories up to the full replacement cost plus a $10.00 non-refundable processing fee.
- Limit of one laptop per student.
- Availability is on a first-come, first-served basis. Laptops may not be reserved in advance.
- The condition of each computer will be verified at check out and check in.
- The Library will stop checking out and checking in laptops 30 minutes prior to closing.
- Laptops should not be left unattended at any time.
- All components must be returned together. The borrower is responsible for any and all replacement or late fees.
- Because laptop clocks could have been changed by other borrowers or may be unreliable for other reasons, the laptop clock should not be used to calculate the time the laptop is due.
- All files should be saved to a disk before laptop is returned. Hard drives will be wiped clean of any files upon return.
- The Library and the College are not responsible for any lost files or information.
- For network, hardware, software or application problems, borrowers should contact the campus Information Technology Service Desk, 2206, during regular business hours.
Loans
- Laptop loans will be available for check out from the Circulation Desk for up to 3 hours. Loaned laptops may be renewed 1 time for an additional 1 hour period. Renewal requests must be made in person. If a user expects or needs to use a laptop for more than 4 hours they should consider an extended loan (see below).
- Users must surrender their college ID for duration of the loan.
- Laptops are to be returned to the Circulation Desk where a preliminary inventory will be done and a Proof-of-Return Receipt is issued.
- Late charges will be imposed; see chart below.
Extended Loans
- Laptops may be borrowed for an extended period of time, up to one week.
- Laptops are to be returned to the Circulation Desk where a preliminary inventory will be done and a Proof-of-Return Receipt is issued.
- Overdue charges will be imposed on laptops that are returned late; see chart below.
Laptop Overdue, Replacement and Damage Fee Schedule:
Support:
Library staff will not provide any technical support for users. Please inform a desk worker of any problems with the laptop so the issue can be resolved before the next patron checks it out.
8.20.02
Revised 10.02.2004; 8.20.2006; 5.23.2007
Gift Policy
Conant Library welcomes gifts of materials that fall within the scope of its collecting activities. Anyone interested in donating materials should contact the Library Director, at 508-213-2333. The Durector will discuss the materials with the donor, explain the Library's gift policy and guidelines, and examine the collection if needed, depending on its size and subject focus. If necessary, a pick-up can be arranged. All donations will be acknowledged by a letter from the Library. Gifts of books, periodicals, sound recordings etc. made directly to Conant Library will be accepted under the following conditions:
Gifts of materials are accepted by the Library with the understanding that, once received, they are owned by the College. The Library reserves the right to determine their retention, location, cataloging treatment and other considerations related to their use or disposition.
GUIDELINES
Gifts of materials
- The material given to the Library may be added to the collection without restriction, or, if not added to the collection, used in exchange, donated to another library, or sold.
- Gifts that are accepted for the collection will be:
- Evaluated according to the same criteria used for the purchase of new materials
- Fully cataloged
- Shelved according to subject classification
- Available to all patrons in accordance with the rules and regulations for borrowing library materials
- The establishment of the gift's value for tax purposes is the donor's responsibility.
- The Library, in the best interest of its donors, will suggest the desirability of an appraisal whenever the size or apparent value of a gift merits such an appraisal.
- The Library is prohibited by federal law from appraising gifts for tax deduction purposes.
- Donors having questions about tax deductions for gifts to the Library should contact the local Internal Revenue Service office and/or to IRS Publications 561 (Valuation of Donated Property) and 526 (Charitable Contributions). Copies of these publications are available on the Web at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p561.pdf and http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf, respectively.
- The acceptance of a gift that has been appraised by a third, and disinterested, party does not in any way imply endorsement of the appraisal by the Library.
- The Library will acknowledge gifts of library materials by means of a letter describing the gift, including the number of volumes (items).
Electronic Reserves
Per the request of the instructor, Conant Library makes course material available via the World Wide Web to the Nichols College community. Electronic Reserves supplements the traditional in-library access to course reserve material, and does not replace it. Users will still need to visit Conant Library to access many reserve materials.
These guidelines are based on the following documents:
- "Model Policy Concerning College and University Photocopying for Classroom, Research and Library Reserve Use," (American Library Association, 1982).
- "Intellectual Property: An Association of Research Libraries Statement of Principles," (Association of Research Libraries, 1994).
- "Fair Use Guidelines for Electronic Reserve Systems," prepared by the Conference on Fair Use (CONFU), sponsored by the Information Infrastructure Task Force's Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights (1995).
The following guidelines apply specifically to the Electronic Reserve System at Nichols College:
- The Electronic Reserve System adheres to current copyright law by relying on the educational fair use provisions of the copyright law (Title 17 U. S. Code).
- Electronic course reserve materials will be made available at the specific request of the instructor. The library will handle all aspects of scanning, converting, and formatting material and making it accessible via the Nichols College computer network.
- There will be no charge for access.
- Material included in the Electronic Reserves System will include appropriate citations or attributions to their sources.
- Materials included in the Electronic Reserves System will be available for the academic term for which the request was made. At the end of each semester, unless it does not fall under copyright restrictions or unless copyright permission has been requested and granted by the publisher, all material will be suppressed.
- Material in the Electronic Reserve System will be accessed by course name or professor's name and password-protected to ensure that the main users of the material will be students who are enrolled in the class.
- For copyrighted material, the following copyright warning notice will appear on screen and as the first page of each electronic reserves document:
WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproduction of copyrighted material.
Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a copy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research. If electronic transmission of reserve material is used for purposes in excess of what constitutes "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
The electronic copying and scanning of copyright-protected works for library reserve service are unsettled areas of the law which may be addressed by the Supreme Court or future revisions of the copyright law. To ensure that these services are in compliance with the letter and the spirit of the United States Copyright Law Conant Library will continually monitor legal developments that may affect the fair use analysis of electronic reserve services.