Policies on Requests

Patrons may request materials owned by other WRLC libraries through their home library's WRLC Loan Service. Patrons are responsible for all transactions, including renewals and overdue fines, upon receipt of WRLC materials.
Patrons may request materials which are also held by the home institution, under the following circumstances:
- Materials which are non-circulating or restricted loan
- Materials that are in circulation at the time of the request
- Materials that cannot be found at the time of request. Meanwhile, the library must begin a search for its own copy if the item has not already been declared missing.
Limits on numbers of requests may be set as a local option, by the home library.

Quality of Request

The user is responsible for the accuracy of information on the request form. The home library is not required to verify bibliographic citations. The home library staff will verify that:

the patron is eligible to borrow;
the author/title on the request for a monograph match those in the online catalog;
only circulating materials (or photocopies that fall within copyright restrictions) are requested;
references are complete, with ALADIN record key, OCLC, ISBN, or ISSN where appropriate.

If any of the above information is incorrect on the request, the request may not be processed.

Response to Requests

WRLC institutions are obligated to respond to requests for loans.

Lending Status of Materials

These items should be available for loan:

all "circulating" general collection material
second copy or microfilm of theses and dissertations

These items may be loaned by local option (based on recommended guidelines):

bound journals: photocopy individual articles (maximum of 50 pages); lend less heavily used journals if requested material is more than 50 pages or too tightly bound for photocopying.
microfilm and microfiche: send print if less than 25 pages are requested; lend if more than 25 pages are needed.
government documents: photocopies from current journals, loan documents that are considered circulating items.
fragile materials
music
computer software
maps
archives/manuscripts

These items should not be loaned:

reference materials: send photocopies for page replacement or if short segments are needed.
materials on course reserve
materials designated "non-circulating"
unbound journals: send photocopies of requested articles.
archival theses and dissertations

Renewals

Materials may be renewed at the patron's home library, the lending library, or any other WRLC library, following that library's established procedures for renewing materials. Renewals of overdue materials must be requested at the lending library. Materials that have been requested by another patron may not be renewed.

Returns

Materials may be returned at the patron's home library, the lending library, or any other WRLC library. It is the patron's responsibility to ensure timely return of materials. Overdue fines and replacement costs will be added to the patron's record. Fines and replacement costs must be paid to the lending library.

Patron Responsibility

All patrons must have a valid ID from a member university. Patrons will be promptly notified that material is available for pickup. All material loaned among WRLC libraries will be charged directly to the patron upon retrieval. Material will be returned to the lending library if the patron does not retrieve it within ten (10) days.
For more information regarding eligibility and loan privileges, see WRLC's Policy: Direct Borrowing Privileges and Regulations.

901 Commerce Drive, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774

Phone:

(301) 390-2000