Policy Statement

The WRLC libraries extend the privileges of in-person borrowing to eligible faculty, students, and staff of WRLC member institutions. Eligibility for faculty, students, and staff is defined by the home institution within WRLC eligibility guidelines. Participants enrolled in institutes, workshops, and designated short sessions are not eligible.

The participating member libraries of the WRLC will respond to CLS (Consortium Loan Service) requests within 48 hours. Staffing will be provided to maintain this goal, whether internally through the institution, or through shared funds of the WRLC. All available CLS requested items will attempted to be delivered to the requesting patron within 2 business days via electronic delivery (when possible) or through the courier delivery service.

Contact your local circulation desk for questions about policies you see here.

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Patron Eligibility

In order to be eligible for borrowing at any of the WRLC member libraries, patrons must fit at least one of the following classifications:

   Definition of "Faculty" for WRLC Borrowing Privileges

1. WRLC borrowing privileges will be extended to all regular faculty. Each institution is responsible for defining the categories of faculty to be included in its definition of "regular faculty."
2. Privileges will be granted to all faculty, otherwise eligible, for whom the main library constitutes the primary resource. 
3. Faculty on leave may obtain borrowing privileges if otherwise eligible.
4. High-level administrators and professional library staff will be granted faculty borrowing privileges. This status is determined by the patron's home WRLC member library.
5. Eligibility for faculty at law and medical schools is established at each participating institution.
   

   Definition of "Staff" for WRLC Borrowing Privileges

1. The borrowing eligibility of a staff member of a WRLC member institution will be determined by the patron's home WRLC member library.

   Definition of "Student" for WRLC Borrowing Privileges

1. WRLC borrowing privileges will be extended to all currently enrolled undergraduate students.
2. WRLC borrowing privileges will be extended to all currently enrolled graduate students.
3. Eligibility for students enrolled in law and medical schools is established at each participating institution.

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Patron Responsibilities

• Patrons must verify citations on CLS requests are correct.
• Patrons will be promptly notified that material is available for pickup. Patrons are responsible for their correct email address in their myAladin account.
  
• All material loaned among WRLC libraries will be charged directly to the patron upon retrieval.
• Patrons must retrieve material within 10 days, or the item(s) will be returned to the lending institution.
• A patron's failure to pay financial obligations will result in a suspension of borrowing privileges at all WRLC libraries.

Library Responsibilities

The eligible borrower's home institution library is responsible for securing the patron's contact and other necessary information in order to borrow at all WRLC participating libraries. Problems with a patron's library account must be reported to the patron's home institution.

The patron's home institution is responsible for ensuring the return of materials from any individual who becomes delinquent at a lending institution. If a patron is delinquent in the return of materials or payment of financial obligations, the home library will suspend all borrowing activity until those obligations have been met.

Overdue notices and/or bills will be sent to the borrower by the lending institution. All fine disputes will be directed to the lending institution.

The lending library will respond to a request within 48 hours, with a goal of a 24 hour response time. The CLS request status is available on your myAladin account and by email notifications that will be sent to you as the request is processed.

The lending library will send circulating materials (or photocopies that fall within copyright restrictions) to the requesting patron's home library, unless another library is specified in the drop down menu of the request. Materials will be sent via electronic delivery (when possible) or through the courier delivery service.

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Borrowing Guidelines

Eligible patrons may borrow general circulating materials from the central libraries, branches, and departmental libraries as designated by the Library Director or his/her designated representative at each participating institution. Other items may be lent according to the material eligibility guidelines of the lending institution. Materials may be returned to any participating WRLC library. Materials returned to any WRLC library will be discharged and forwarded to the lending institution via the WRLC courier service. Any fines or other financial obligations associated with materials borrowed via the WRLC direct borrowing program must be paid. Payment for financial assessments can be made at any WRLC member library. Payments for replacement, lost, or damaged materials must be made directly at the lending institution.

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Borrowing Privileges

There are no limits to the number of books faculty, students, or staff may check out in-person from any WRLC member library, except for George Mason, where there is a maximum limit of 25 items charged out at any given time. Sanctions will be imposed on delinquent borrowers, including the suspension of borrowing privileges at all WRLC member libraries.

Requesting Materials Through the Consortium Loan Service (CLS)

The request form used by the WRLC incorporates information for both monograph and journal citations. If any of the information is incorrect on the request form, the request may not be processed.

• The home library is not required to verify bibliographic citations. The home library staff will only verify that:
  • the patron is eligible to borrow.
    
    
• The requesting patron is responsible for the accuracy of information on the request form including:
• the author/title on the request for a monograph match those in the online catalog;
• article citations are correct (journal titles, volume/issue, pages, etc.)
  
  
• Time frame of receiving a request:
  • all available items will be sent through the courier the next business day;
  • providing the item is available at the first library, the patron should have the requested item within two business days;
  • if a book request is filled by a 2nd or 3rd library, the turnaround time will be 3 - 5 days.

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Policies on Requests

• Patrons may request materials owned by other WRLC libraries through their home institution's access to the Consortium Loan Service (CLS). Patrons are responsible for all transactions, including returns, renewals and overdue fines, upon receipt of WRLC materials.
  
  
• Patrons may request materials which are also held by their home institution, under the following circumstances:
  • Materials which are non-circulating or have a restricted loan
  • Materials that are in circulation at the time of the request
  • Materials that cannot be found at the time of request (in this instance, the home institution must begin a search for its own copy if the item has not already been declared as missing or searching in the catalog system).
  • When the materials are located at a library on a different campus from the pickup location.
    
    
• The home or lending institution has the option of contacting a patron directly to clarify reasons for limitation if a request is denied.

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Eligibility of Materials to be Delivered Through the CLS

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Special Collections and Materials of Exceptional Value

1. Items identified by the lending institution as "special collections" or non-circulating will not be loaned. If the lending institution, however, chooses to loan such items, the lending institution will assume financial responsibility for lost items.
2. Items that circulate which are later determined to be of a special collections nature and are therefore irreplaceable will be processed as a regular circulating item and priced according to the established interinstitutional policy governing charges for direct-borrowing losses.
3. Items circulate with restrictions determined by the lending institution.

Renewals

General renewal:

Materials may be renewed at the patron's home library, the lending library, any other WRLC member library, or online at myAladin. Renewals should be done before the due date, but there is a 3 day grace period, providing the item has not been recalled. NOTE: There are multiple library accounts on your myAladin record. When renewing, please check that all materials have been renewed. Overdue notices are sent as a courtesy, and failure to receive a notice is not grounds for dismissing fines. The library accounts are listed here in the left-hand column : click on the button below the institution(s) listed to see your account activity for that specific group or individual institution. (If your account does not show these selections, you may not be a registered user at that university).

Overdue material:

Renewals of overdue items may be done through your myAladin account as long as the total amount of fines does not exceed $25.00 and there are no overdue items on the account.

Recalled material

Materials that have been requested by another patron (recalled) will not be renewed - they must be returned immediately to avoid fines and blocks to the patron's library record. There is no grace period for recalled books.

More information can be found under borrowing privileges.

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Returning Materials

Materials may be returned at the patron's home library, the lending library, or any other WRLC member library. It is the patron's responsibility to ensure the timely return of materials. Failure to do so will result in financial penalties.

Fines and Replacement Charges

Upon accruement, overdue fines and replacement costs will be added to the patron's library record.

• See "fines and replacement information" under borrowing policies for additional financial charge information
• Overdue fines can be paid at any WRLC member library
• Replacement costs must be paid to the lending library (institution that originally owned the item)