Borrowing Policies

Patron CategoryLoan PeriodRenewalsItem Limits
Undergraduate Students14 daysUp to 70 additional days50
Graduate Students90 daysUp to 70 additional days200
Staff90 daysUp to 70 additional days200
Faculty90 daysUp to 70 additional days200
SMC Extramural Readers14 daysUp to 30 additional days10

Exceptions

  • Audio-visual materials, including video games, DVDs, and CDs carry a 14-day loan period with no renewals. This is applicable to all patron types.
  • Loan periods for course reserves and short-term loan (STL) items vary between 3, 5, 24 or 72 hours and are not renewable.

Patrons will be charged fines if they do not return their library materials on time. Fines are applied to your account. Patrons lose their ability to borrow library materials when an item is more than 14 days overdue or your fines and/or fees reach $25 or greater.

If items are not returned on time, fines will be applied to your account as follows:

Material TypeFine
Regular books or media (DVDs/CDs)$0.50 per day per item
Course reserves and short-term loans$0.50 per hour per item
Recalled items$2 per day per item

Fines may be paid by signing in to your LibrarySearch account and paying your fines online. You may also pay your fines over the phone or in-person at the Kelly Library.

Medical or other documentation is required to reduce or forgive fines. To dispute fines, contact the library where you borrowed the item.

The following reasons do not warrant fine forgiveness or reduction:

  • Forgot the due date
  • Did not receive a courtesy or overdue notice
  • Unaware of library policies
  • Borrowed the item from someone else
  • Item was returned late by someone else
  • Did not report TCard stolen

This is a non-exhaustive list.

Patrons will be charged a fee if library items are lost or damaged. These fees are used to replace or repair the item.

Items which are not returned within 42 days of the due date will be deemed lost and a lost fee will be automatically assigned to the patron’s account.

Fee TypeCost
Lost book or media (DVDs/CDs)$145 per item
Lost bound journal$245 per item
Damaged item repair fee$45 per item

Fees may be paid by signing in to your LibrarySearch account and paying online. You may also pay your fees over the phone or in-person at the Kelly Library.

In the event an item is said to be returned by a patron but remains charged to the patron’s account please contact the library. The item(s) will enter a “claimed return” status and if the item(s) cannot be located within 90 days the item(s) will be declared lost and the $145 lost book or media fee will be applied to the patron’s account. While the library will attempt to find the item(s) during the 90 day “claimed return” period within the library building, it is the patron’s responsibility to locate the item(s).

If an item is lost and you are able to supply a suitable replacement copy, a $45 processing fee will be charged in place of the lost book or media fee.