The great majority of libraries allow users to borrow materials from their collections, and many public libraries consider this their most important service to users. Libraries that lend their materials to users are known as circulating libraries or lending libraries. Users borrow library materials from the circulation department, which keeps track of the library's collections. The circulation desk is typically located near the entrance of the library. To ensure equitable distribution of materials among different users, libraries establish policies about who can borrow items, which items may be borrowed, for how long they may be borrowed, and what happens when an item is not returned on time. ARegistration To borrow library materials, a user must be registered with the library's circulation department. The registration procedure involves recording the user's name, address, telephone number, and other basic information. Upon registration, the library usually provides users with a library circulation card in addition to a printed handout with information about the library's hours, any fines charged for overdue books, descriptions of various library services, and other information. Most public libraries limit registration to residents of the area served by the library. Public libraries generally allow children to borrow materials, but parents or guardians usually must sign the registration form to verify their consent and to assume responsibility for any borrowed items. College, university, school, and special libraries generally require users to be affiliated with the parent institution to borrow library materials. Libraries of all types usually exclude those who have abused the library's circulation policies in the past by failing to return items. BCirculating and Noncirculating Items In most lending libraries, selected items of the collection are unavailable for circulation. For example, libraries generally do not lend general reference books, in order that these popular items are available to all users at any given time. Libraries also rarely lend current issues of magazines and journals, although some libraries bind older issues together and allow users to borrow them. In addition, libraries usually do not lend rare, fragile, or expensive items that they could not afford to replace if the items were lost or damaged. CCirculation Systems In the past, a lending library attached pocket envelopes containing circulation cards to each circulating item in its collection. When a user wished to check out a book from the library, the circulation desk would record the due date and the user's name on the card. Libraries used the information printed on these cards to monitor and control the circulation of their collections. Libraries would also replace the card with a slip of paper indicating the due date for the user. To remind users of the borrowing period, the circulation desk also generally stamped a due date on a slip attached to the item. Today, most libraries use optical scanners to read and record information on barcode labels attached to library materials and on user identification cards. Using this automated system, libraries can quickly and accurately determine the status of borrowed items, monitor overdue materials, and inventory library collections. As in the past, however, circulation desks continue to record the due date on a slip attached to each borrowed item. DBorrowing Periods Most public libraries allow users to borrow materials for two to four weeks. However, some libraries establish shorter borrowing periods for selected popular items-such as new best-selling novels, popular nonfiction, and videos-so that greater numbers of users may have access to them. Libraries also try to provide greater access to popular materials by stocking multiple copies of these items, so that even if one or two copies are lent out, additional copies may remain for other users. Public libraries often allow users to borrow fine art, such as framed prints or photographs, for longer periods, sometimes as long as six months. Most libraries allow users to reserve or place holds on items already borrowed by another user. When a user places a hold on a particular item, the library adds her name to a list of people waiting for that same item. When the item becomes available, the library contacts the user by phone, mail, or e-mail. Most libraries allow users to renew borrowed materials for another complete borrowing period if there are no other users waiting for the same items. Libraries with automated circulation systems typically allow users to renew their borrowed materials over the telephone or through e-mail. EOverdue Policies When borrowed items become overdue, libraries send users an overdue notice, sometimes followed by a telephone call. If the item is still not returned after a time established by the library's circulation policies, the library sends the borrower a final overdue notice or a bill listing any fines the user has incurred. Most libraries suspend a user's borrowing privileges after the user fails to return items. An increasing number of libraries also have a policy of using collection agencies or credit bureaus to collect fines for long-overdue materials. FInterlibrary Loans Most circulation departments provide interlibrary loan services, which allow users to request items from other libraries that participate in interlibrary loan networks. Interlibrary loans give users access to resources not available in their own libraries. However, most libraries limit the kinds of materials that are available in an interlibrary loan. For example, videos, sound recordings, and computer software are often not available through interlibrary loan even though they may be borrowed directly from the library that maintains these items. In large library systems, the circulation department at the central library generally coordinates interlibrary distribution of library materials to users of the various branches who request these items. Library users typically request interlibrary loan materials at the circulation desk of their local library. Users with connections to the Internet can access the catalogs of remote libraries online. That way the users can determine whether these libraries own desired material and whether that material is available through interlibrary loan. In addition, online users can often request items directly from a remote library that participates in an interlibrary loan network with the user's local library. When users request materials through an interlibrary loan program, the materials from the remote library are usually delivered to the user's local library through mail or delivery services. Increasingly, however, libraries share copies of materials using the Internet or facsimile transmissions (faxes). This enables libraries to share subscriptions to expensive journals, reduce institutional costs, and save space on library shelves while providing access to many more titles than any one library can afford.
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