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Jersey City Free Public Library Interlibrary Loan Policy

PREAMBLE

The Jersey City Free Public Library is committed to facilitating the widest possible access to resource s that contribute to the economic, educational, social and cultural development of the region.

This document states the Jersey City Free Public Li brary’s policy for obtaining resources from other libraries on behalf of our patrons and for lending resources to other libraries that borrow on behalf of their patrons.

STATEMENT OF INTENT

The Jersey City Free Public Library offers Interlib rary Loan (ILL) service to its patrons. This service aim s to provide our patrons with access to fiction and non- fiction material, copies of journal articles, or other mate rial not available in our Library, from libraries throughout the United States. ILL service is supplied to patrons u nder certain conditions.

The Jersey City Free Public Library Interlibrary Lo an policy is designed to ensure:

1. That our patrons should not be disadvantaged wit h regard to access to information due to any gap in our coll ection.

2. That collection development constraints imposed by budgetary considerations do not disadvantage our pa trons.

POLICY STATEMENT 1. PATRONS

1.1 Patrons must be 18 years or older to request an interlibrary loan. 1.2 Interlibrary Loan service is not available to Itinerant, Reciprocal, or Visitor Card holders.

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1.3 Interlibrary Loan service is not available to new borrowers. Patrons must hold a valid Jersey City Fr ee Public Library Card for at least six months to be e ligible for Interlibrary Loan service. 1.4 Interlibrary Loan service is available only to patr ons in good standing. ILL service is not available to p atrons with blocked or expired library cards. Patrons requ esting an ILL must not have any outstanding fines or overd ue materials. 1.5 Patrons using the Interlibrary Loan service agree t o abide by this policy. 1.6 The Jersey City Free Public Library reserves the ri ght to refuse interlibrary loan requests for patrons wh o damage, lose, or are late returning interlibrary lo an materials. 2. DISCLAIMERS

2.1 The Jersey City Free Public Library, while it makes every effort to obtain items requested, cannot guar antee to obtain items if the policies and lending conditions of lending libraries do not enable access to that item . 2.2 The Jersey City Free Public Library cannot guarante e delivery of an item requested within a certain time frame, given the variety of circumstances affecting an ite m. Staff should contact a patron only when a requested item has arrived in the Library. 3. CHARGES

3.1 This service is provided free of charge when materi als requested from libraries require no service fee or charge. 3.2 Where libraries do charge a fee, this charge is pas sed on to the patron requesting the material before the request is processed. 3.3 Charges levied for photocopies of journal articles or other material, including fax costs, will be passed on to the patron requesting the copy. ( Reference Dept. only.) 4. CONDITIONS FOR PATRON ACCESS TO INTERLIBRARY LOANS FROM

OTHER LIBRARIES

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4.1 Patrons must submit a signed Interlibrary Loan requ est form for each item to one of the Jersey City Free P ublic Library branches. 4.2 Patrons may request up to two (2) books and/or up t o five (5) articles at any one time. 4.3 The following materials may be requested through Interlibrary Loan: - Children’s books; - Fiction books; - Non-fiction books. 4.4 The following materials may not be requested throug h Interlibrary Loan: - Materials owned by the Jersey City Free Public Library, unless the copy is long overdue or missin g; - Textbooks or Study Guides; - Any physical media, such as DVDs or CDs; - Hardware, such as hotspots or media players. 4.5 Items less than six months old will not be requeste d from other libraries; periodical articles are exemp t from this clause. 4.6 If the Jersey City Free Public Library holds an ite m of similar content to that requested, this may be o ffered to the patron before proceeding with the interlibra ry loan. 4.7 Patrons will be advised of any charges before a loa n request is processed with the owning library. 4.8 Patrons are to be made aware that the loan period w ill vary according to the owning library's policy. 4.9 Patrons must abide by any restrictions placed on th e loan, either by the owning library of the Jersey Ci ty Free Public Library. 4.10 Patrons must return items requested through Interlibrary Loan to either the Main Library or the branch where the items were picked up. 4.11 Patrons may incur a fine of $1.00 per day, per book for late return of items. 4.12 Requests for extension/renewal on items obtained through Interlibrary Loan must be made at least one week before the due date. Extensions/Renewals are not

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guaranteed; approval of these requests is at the di scretion of the owning library. 4.13 Patrons are responsible for any cost levied by the owning library for to the loss or damage of an item while on loan to the patron. In addition, the Jersey City Free Public Library will assess a processing fee of $ 25 .00 for lost or damaged Interlibrary Loan items. 4.14 The Jersey City Free Public Library reserves the ri ght to refuse Interlibrary Loan requests for patrons wh o fail to collect previous interlibrary materials obtained for them. 5. CONDITIONS FOR ACCESS TO INTERLIBRARY LOANS BY OTHER

LIBRARIES

5.1 Requests for an item by Jersey City Free Public Library patrons take precedence over Interlibrary L oan requests of other libraries. 5.2 The following items are not available for Interlibr ary Loan to other libraries: - Any physical media, such as videos, DVDs, books on tape, cassettes, CDs, microfiche, or microfilm; - Hardware, such as mobile hotspots or media playe rs; - Reference items and materials from other special ized collections, such as New Jersey Room and Federal Documents.

5.3 Items less than six months old, on order, in proces s, or in transit are not available for Interlibrary Lo an to other libraries. 5.4 Loans are for six weeks. Approval may be made for o ne extension of two weeks, at the discretion of the Je rsey City Free Public Library. 5.5 Jersey City Free Public Library will issue invoice and overdue notice to borrowing libraries as part of th e Jersey City Free Public Library’s regular overdue procedur e.

5.6 Any loss of or damage to an item when on loan to another library will incur a cost for the replaceme nt of the item, plus an administration fee of $25.00. Adopted by the Library Board in February 2004. Revised on March 15, 2018.