Tempe Public Library Interlibrary Loan Policy

Approved by the Library Advisory Board
May 8, 2000

Approved by the Tempe City Council
July 13, 2000

INTRODUCTION: Interlibrary loan (ILL) is a process through which library material, or a copy of the material, is made available by one library to another upon request. If the Tempe Public Library does not have the material that a user needs within its collection, library staff will attempt to borrow it from another library via the ILL system.

I.  ELIGIBLE BORROWERS

Interlibrary loan service is available to any library user in good standing (i.e., card is not blocked for fines, overdue materials, or incorrect address) who has been issued a current Tempe Public Library borrower's card.

II.  REQUESTING INTERLIBRARY LOAN SERVICE

An interlibrary borrowing request is initiated by submitting a completed ILL request form to a Library service desk. Requests will also be accepted by telephone from any Tempe Public Library cardholder in good standing. When requesting an item for interlibrary loan, the following information will assist library staff in locating and requesting the item: exact title of the item, author or editor's full name, publisher, and date of publication.

III.  REQUEST RESTRICTIONS

    A.  Material Types

Some types of materials are not available for lending by other libraries and, consequently, the following will not be requested on interlibrary loan: audio-visual materials (videos, and sound recordings); reference material (e.g. directories, encyclopedia sets, indexes, standard library reference tools); bound volumes or individual issues of magazines and newspapers; software; rare, archival, manuscript or fragile items; popular books published within the last year; and books currently in the collection of the Tempe Public Library which are not listed as lost or missing.

   B.  Number of Requests Accepted

A library user may have up to three (3) outstanding interlibrary loan transactions at any one time. This includes requests that are pending as well as materials that the user currently has borrowed through interlibrary loan.

   C.  Copyright Compliance

The Tempe Public Library complies with Federal copyright law and CONTU (National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works) guidelines that established the following guidelines for copying for interlibrary loan:

Requests for photocopies must include the copyright warning and the library user must acknowledge awareness of the copyright warning.

The Library may request only a total of five (5) articles a year from the last five years of a specific magazine.

The Library may request only one (1) article a year from any one issue of a magazine.

IV.  CIRCULATION OF INTERLIBRARY LOAN MATERIAL

    A.  Loan Period

The library lending the material sets the due date. Typically, interlibrary loan materials will be loaned to patrons for a two-week period.

    B.  Renewals

Library users are encouraged to return materials at the end of the loan period so that materials are not absent from the lending library for an unreasonable length of time. Renewals are only permitted if the lending library allows such an extension. Requests to renew an item must be submitted two days in advance of the due date for the item. Materials received through interlibrary loan may not be renewed or requested again for at least six months.

V.  BORROWING FEES AND OVERDUE FINES

    A.  Agreement to Accept Charges from Lending Libraries

The Tempe Public Library will make every effort to request materials from those libraries who do not charge for lending their materials. Many libraries, however, are now charging for lending materials from their collections. Library users are responsible for any charges applied by the lending library including photocopy charges, postage for the loan of microfilm or microfiche, overdue fines, or fees for damaged or lost materials. Library staff will make every effort to notify the library user as to any fees that will be assessed by the lending library. If lending charges are not paid at the time the material is picked up, they will be attached to the user's circulation record and handled in the same manner as fines and other charges.

    B.  Overdue Fines and Charges for Damaged or Lost Materials

A $1.00 per day per item overdue fine will be assessed for interlibrary loan materials that are returned past their due date. The library user also is responsible for any charges assessed by the lending library for damage to an interlibrary loan item. If an interlibrary loan item is lost, the library user will be responsible for the cost of the item, plus a $30.00 non-refundable processing fee.

VI.  FAILURE TO PICK-UP INTERLIBRARY LOAN MATERIALS

Library users who request an item via interlibrary loan and fail to pick it up upon notification by a library staff member will be assessed a fee of $5.00 for each unclaimed item, in addition to any fees or charges assessed by the lending library.

VII.  LENDING MATERIALS TO OTHER LIBRARIES

   A.  Lending Charges

There will be no charge to other libraries to borrow materials from the Tempe Public Library's collection, nor will charges be assessed for overdue items. If an item is not returned by the borrowing library to the Tempe Public Library, the borrowing library is responsible for the replacement cost of the item.

   B.  Loan Period

Tempe Public Library materials will be lent to other libraries for three weeks with no renewals.

   C.  Format of Requests That Will Be Accepted

In order to facilitate processing of interlibrary loan requests, the Library will only accept requests submitted through the OCLC computer-based system. An exception will be made for interlibrary loan requests sent to the Tempe Public Library from libraries located within Maricopa County. In those instances, requests will be accepted by fax, as well as through OCLC

   D.  Materials That Will Be Lent to Requesting Libraries

The Tempe Public Library will lend photocopies of periodical articles or pages from books in accordance with federal copyright law. In order to insure that local Tempe Public Library users have access to the latest materials, the following items will not be loaned via interlibrary loan: popular books published within the last year; books with long reserve lists; items designated as "high demand"; audio-visual materials (videos and sound recordings); software; reference material (e.g. directories, encyclopedia sets, indexes, standard library reference tools); bound or current issues of magazines and newspapers; and rare, archival, manuscript or fragile items.