CIRCULATION POLICY FOR LIBRARY MATERIALS

PURPOSE
The purpose of this circulation policy is to offer the material of the Fox Lake Public Library to as many people in an efficient manner as possible. These policies are not mean to be restrictive, but rather a means by which fair treatment and the maximum use of publicly owned materials could be encouraged.

A. CIRCULATION

  1. Books, audio books, kits and puppets circulate for 28 days.
  2. New popular fiction and large print circulate for 14 days
  3. Magazines circulate for 14 days.
  4. Music CDs, nonfeature DVDs and TV series DVD circulate for 14 days.
  5. Videocassettes, DVDs, and BLU-rays circulate for 7 days.
  6. Items from interlibrary loan circulate as designated by the lending library.

B. FINES AND FEES

  1. The replacement cost, as determined by the Library Director, of items that are overdue for 21 days are automatically charged to a patron’s account.
  2. Lost and damaged materials must be paid for at the replacement cost through the library. All replacement items must be purchased through the owing library. Exceptions may be permitted by the Library Director.
  3. Damaged to items includes but not limited to water/liquid, rips and tears, cracks and deep scratches, sticky substances and any substance that poses a risk to public health. Patrons will not be charged for normal wear of an item. The owning library will determine if an item is unsuitable for the collection.
  4. A replacement library card will cost $1.
  5. Patrons owing fines over $10.00 or charges for lost or damaged library materials will not be allowed to borrow library materials until charges have been paid.

C. REFUNDS

  1. Patrons need to make payments at their HOME library. No monies will be exchanged among system libraries, as there is a reconciliation report available to transfer funds at year end.
  2. Refunds for lost material owned by the Fox Lake Public Library will be issued to a patron within three months of payment as long as the patron has the payment receipt.
  3. Refunds will NOT be issued for items owned by another library in the system.

D. RENEWALS

  1. Renewal of library materials will be permitted (excluding interlibrary loans.)
  2. Materials may be renewed twice.
  3. Extended loans may be granted to teachers for classroom use, homebound patrons or to people on vacation, from our holding.
  4. Renewals will not be accepted on materials that have reserves/hold requests on them.
  5. The library may choose to not permit renewals on extremely popular materials.
  6. Materials borrowed from other libraries through intra-library loan may not be renewed if there are holds on these materials.
  7. Overdue materials may be renewed.

E. LIMITS ON MATERIALS

  1. The library Director reserves the right to limit the number of items checked out to chronic offenders of the library’s policies.
  2. There is no limit on the number of magazines or books that may be checked out.
  3. There is a limit of ten DVDs that can be checked out at on time. This means that a patron can only have ten films on their account at one time.
  4. Minors are limited to DVD checkouts by rating, i.e., patrons under 13 cannot checkout PG-13 or R-rated DVDs, patrons under 18 cannot checkout R-rated DVDs unless there is written consent from a parent or guardian.

F. INTERLIBRARY LOAN

  1. If the library does not have a title or information a patron wishes, the library will try to obtain it through interlibrary loan.
  2. The period of time for which materials may be borrowed on interlibrary loan is determined by the lending library.
  3. Interlibrary loan materials can be renewed with the authorization of the owing library. Renewals on Interlibrary loans cannot be guaranteed.

G. OVERDUE ITEMS

  1. An overdue item is billed as lost four weeks after the item due date.
  2. Patron who has lost or damaged materials will not be allowed to check out library materials until lost or damaged materials have been paid for even if the amount is below the $10.00 limit.

Approved October 6, 2015
Revised February 5, 2019, September 1, 2020