Inter-Institutional Circulation Policies

OhioLINK Patron Initiated Inter-Institutional Circulation Policies as revised December 2018

The assumptions and parameters which follow apply only to OhioLINK loans; they need not affect local Circulation/ILL policies or practices. The Library Advisory Council has confirmed the following as the guiding principles for OhioLINK Online Circulation.

  1. OhioLINK libraries are stewards of a shared collection and should strive to maintain the integrity of the collection.
  2. Institutions are encouraged to make available for circulation as many of their holdings as possible.
  3. In order to efficiently manage materials across institutions, institutions are expected to run reports based on the INN-Reach calendar and respond to report inquiries.

This document has been reviewed, revised, and approved by the Library Advisory Council.

  1. Loan Length – 21 days for non-media for all patron types except faculty. Faculty may check out non-media items for 42 days. Seven days for media.
  2. All materials are to be pulled and ready for pickup by the courier within one business day. If the material is not found, the paging slip can be held one additional day for possible retrieval before canceling with re-request.
  3. Renewals – Up to 6 renewals of 21 days each for most patrons on non-media or 42 days each for faculty as long as no holds have been placed on the item. Seven-day media has 3 renewals of 7 days.
  4. Courtesy borrowers should be limited to five outstanding OhioLINK loans at any given time.
  5. Recalls – Materials will be recalled only for Course Reserve use; materials may be recalled from any patron type.
  6. Hold Requests – When there are no available copies, the system may allow one hold to be placed. If one hold already exists, the request will be canceled and the user will see the cancellation notice on his or her patron’s record stating that the request cannot be filled within OhioLINK and suggesting they use Interlibrary Loan at their library. Holds can be placed within a 10-day window of an item’s due date (i.e. 10 days before and 10 days after an item’s due date).
  7. Priority – Requests will be filled in the order received.
  8. Missing in Transit – If in-transit materials cannot be located at either location, a search list may be generated for statewide distribution and searching.
  9. Reserve – Materials borrowed through OhioLINK will not be placed on reserve at the borrowing institution, unless special arrangements have been made.
  10. ILL – Materials available through OhioLINK online requesting will not be requested or filled through traditional interlibrary loan services among OhioLINK members.
  11. Patron Records – Complete patron records will be kept only at the home institution of the patron. Only authorized staff at that library may change, update, or enter patron records for their borrowers. Only staff at the home library may override blocks for their borrowers. No patron information will be kept in the central database.
  12. Load Balancing – An attempt will be made to balance lending and borrowing over the course of time at each institution unless that institution chooses to be a net lender. To balance lending and borrowing, central site software may be manipulated regularly by OhioLINK staff. The selection of the copy to be sent to a borrower should be randomized by the system to balance lending and borrowing. The patron will not be able to designate which copy is to be borrowed unless the title has one or more volumes attached to it. Circulation staff may override this rule in order to borrow a specific copy when deemed appropriate.
  13. Charges – The patron's home library will keep the monies collected for all late fees and replacement and processing costs. Institutions may use their own local charges for OhioLINK items. In place of locally defined charges, institutions may instead follow traditional OhioLINK charge structure. Under the traditional OhioLINK structure, patrons will be charged late fees at the rate of $.50 per day ($2.00 per day for failure to return a recalled item promptly). The maximum overdue fine per item is $15.00. The patron's home library will be responsible for notifying its patrons of overdue materials and fees accrued. A lost book replacement charge of $75.00 will be billed to the patron who does not return an OhioLINK loan 30 days after the due date. A $50.00 processing fee (which includes the $15 late fee plus a $35 billing fee) will also be included on these lost book invoices. Only the replacement fee is canceled when the item is returned.
  14. Replacement – Patrons can replace lost OhioLINK books with an item of the same edition. The borrowing library should offer that replacement to the lending library. If lending doesn’t accept it, the borrowing library can choose to add it to their collection.
  15. Availability of Materials – New materials will be automatically available for any OhioLINK borrower as soon as they are available to local patrons for circulation. If the materials are ordered for a specific patron, the patron should place a hold on that order. Coding in local records should accurately reflect whether or not the item is requestable.

Further clarification of policies regarding OhioLINK and circulation may be found in the OhioLINK Distance Learning Policy and the Interlibrary Loan Policy.

December 2018