Circulation of Materials

• Community Members

  Community Borrower Eligibility

  All community patrons who wish to borrow books from the Luther College Library must apply for a Luther College library account. Only residents of northeast Iowa and southeast Minnesota served by the Decorah telephone book are eligible to apply as community borrowers. Borrowers need to be seniors in high school or older.

  Other people who wish to apply for a card should list their reasons under "Special Circumstances" on the Community Borrower Application form.

  Application Forms

  Application forms are available at the Circulation Desk. All applications must be reviewed by the Circulation Desk Supervisor prior to an account being created for a patron. Each application will be reviewed individually and the special circumstances taken into consideration.

  Library Cards

  After an application is approved, community patrons must obtain a Luther College community ID card from the Dining Services Office in the Union.

  Due Dates

  Books are due two weeks after they are checked out.

  Renewals

  Books may be renewed once by bringing them in physically to the Circulation Desk of the library or by telephoning the Circulation Desk at 563-387-1166.

  Fines

  Three notices are sent for overdue books.

  • First notice: Reminder — no fine
  • Second notice: $5.00 per book
  • Third notice: Fine plus replacement charges. A charge of $40.00 per item will be imposed, plus a $20.00 handling charge.
  • Community borrowers are blocked from further checkouts after books become overdue and/or there are outstanding fines.

  Holds

  Books may be held for community borrowers upon request.

  Recalls

  Books may not be recalled for community borrowers.

  Interlibrary Loan Privileges

  A Community Borrower card does not include Interlibrary Loan privileges. Preus Library does not offer Interlibrary Loan to community patrons, only to Luther College students, faculty, and staff. Contact your local public library for information on Interlibrary Loan services.

  Library Materials Non-Circulating for Community Patrons

  The following materials may not be checked out by Community Patrons:

  • Reserve materials
  • Reference materials
  • Bound periodicals
  • Single issue periodicals
  • Curriculum Library materials
  • Closed Stacks items
  • Rare books
  • Archival materials
  • DVDs

• Faculty and Staff

  ID Cards

  All patrons must use their ID cards to check out materials from the Library.

  Due Dates and Renewals

  • End of fall semester
  • End of spring semester
  • Books from the Curriculum Library are due two weeks after checkout.
  • Books from the Leisure Reading area are due two weeks from the day of checkout.

  Books may be renewed beginning five days before the due date via the patron’s online library account, e-mail ([email protected]), phone (x1166), or in person. There is a limit of three renewals on books from the main stacks. To retain books after the third renewal, faculty/staff must bring the books physically to the circulation desk to have them checked in and then back out. They will then be due on the next due date. To see what you have checked out and when it is due, click on Library Account on the Library Research page http://www.luther.edu/library/.

  Overdues

  Three overdue notices will be sent to faculty and staff. If a book is lost, book replacement costs will be charged. A charge of $40.00 per item will be imposed, plus a $20.00 handling charge.

  Recalls

  Books may be recalled after they have been checked out for seven days. Contact the Circulation Desk to place a recall. Original borrowers are notified of their new due dates. Fine and replacement charges, if any, are assessed according to the fine schedule. Patrons requesting recalls are notified when items are returned.

  Circulation Desk Media Equipment

  Media equipment, including digital video cameras, is available for 24-hour check-out, beginning from the moment of check-out, for faculty/staff. External hard-drives have a 7-day loan period. This equipment may be used outside of the library.

  Technology Help Desk Audio-Visual Equipment

  Laptops and iPads maintained by the Technology Help Desk are available for 14-day checkout at the circulation desk. LCD projectors and screens are available for 3-day checkout. Other equipment maintained by the Technology Help Desk but available for checkout at the circulation desk includes: digital voice recorders; desk and headset microphones; international power adapters; a flash card reader; webcams; wireless presenters with laser pointers; and classrooms clickers.

  Mobile iPad Classroom

  A mobile cart with up to 32 iPads is available for classroom use by faculty. Reservations for use and checkouts are handled directly by the circulation supervisor ([email protected]).

  Media

  Media belonging to Preus Library may be checked out by faculty from the Circulation Desk for two-week periods. If media is needed for longer periods, exceptions can be made on request.

  Media not owned by Preus Library (DVDs, CDs, etc.) may be requested over interlibrary loan via your ILL account (https://illiad.luther.edu/illiad/).

  Equipment and media services (projectors, copying of tapes, etc.) should be requested from the HelpDesk at https://help.luther.edu or 563-387-1000.

  Reserves

  Unless otherwise requested, items on reserve circulate under a 2-hour-loan, in-library-use-only policy for students and a 2-day policy for faculty and staff.

  Non-circulating Library Materials

  The following materials may not be checked out:

  • Reference materials
  • Bound periodicals
  • Single-issue periodicals
  • Curriculum Library textbooks
  • Closed Stacks books
  • Rare books
  • Archival materials

• Interlibrary Loan

  ILL Statement of Philosophy | Borrowing Policies (for Luther College patrons) | Lending Policies (for other libraries)

  Statement of Philosophy

  As part of Preus Library, the Interlibrary Loan Department works to facilitate and support the teaching, learning, and scholarship of Luther College students, faculty and staff. The Interlibrary Loan staff strive to provide accurate, timely, and consistent service in a courteous and informed manner in order to provide the best service to our users.

  Borrowing Policies

  For more information about borrowing, see the Interlibrary Loan FAQ.

  Eligibility
  Students, faculty, and staff of Luther College are eligible for interlibrary loan privileges. Community patrons, alumni, and dependents of Luther College faculty/staff are not eligible to borrow materials through Luther College, but may contact their local public library for information on interlibrary loan services.

  Fees
  Preus Library does not charge for use of the interlibrary loan service. The library participates in a number of resource sharing agreements with other libraries, and utilizes these libraries first for obtaining articles and loans for free. Not all materials are available for free through interlibrary loan. If you are requesting materials for faculty research or senior paper/project, the library pays the cost as long as the per-item fee does not exceed reasonable costs. Other requests are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

  Materials available through Interlibrary Loan
  Books, photocopies of articles, musical scores, government documents, and most ERIC documents are generally available. Dissertations, new editions of textbooks, microforms, DVDs, CDs, VHS tapes, and materials owned only by international libraries are less readily available but may be obtained in some cases.

  The following types of materials are generally not available through interlibrary loan:

  • entire ebooks (although single chapters/articles may be requested)
  • books and films released within the last year
  • materials that are considered rare, fragile, or too valuable to lend
  • reference materials
  • articles or book chapters longer than 50 pages
  • entire periodical or journal volumes

  Note to off-campus users
  We can provide articles electronically via email for faculty on sabbatical and students participating in study-away programs, internships, or student teaching. We will not mail books or other materials to you from the Preus Library collection or process interlibrary loan requests for books or other materials that must be returned to other libraries.

  Interlibrary Loan Schedule
  The Interlibrary Loan department follows the Luther College academic calendar. We try to provide interlibrary loan service during breaks and holidays if the library is open, but this is contingent on workload and student work schedules. Please plan accordingly when requesting interlibrary loans during scheduled Luther College breaks and holidays.

  Loan Period and Restrictions
  The loan period is determined by the lending library and is usually around 4 weeks. Renewal requests should be submitted on your ILL account or to the Interlibrary Loan Coordinator in advance of the due date. Renewals are granted at the discretion of the lending library.

  Restrictions such as No Renewal, No Photocopying, or In-Library Use Only may be imposed by the lending library and must be honored.

  No Interlibrary Loan materials may be placed on Course Reserve in the library.

  We reserve the right to restrict materials to “In-Library Use Only” and/or deny interlibrary loan privileges for patrons who consistently fail to return interlibrary loan materials on time.

  Payment of Borrowing Fees
  The library’s policy is to pay copyright or borrowing fees for interlibrary loan materials for faculty research and senior project/paper as long as the per-item fees do not exceed reasonable costs. Other requests for research materials that fall outside the scope of these guidelines are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

  Returning Materials
  All materials borrowed through interlibrary loan, with the exception of photocopied articles and electronically delivered items, must be returned to the Circulation Desk on or before the due date. Materials may be recalled by the lending library at any time and must be returned immediately. Please leave all slips attached to the item(s). Returning materials late jeopardizes our ability to borrow from other libraries in the future.

  Patrons are responsible for any damaged or lost items. The replacement cost will be determined by the lending library. The Luther College Interlibrary Loan Department will notify you of any charges. Please notify the Interlibrary Loan Coordinator at [email protected] if you have damaged or lost your interlibrary loan material(s).

  Note to lending libraries: We will not pay fines or replacement cost(s) for OCLC items that are no longer on Worldshare Interlibrary Loan. Items filled by other sources must be billed within one calendar year of due date.

  Authorized Users
  Each interlibrary loan account is private and connected to one individual only. No one may submit ILL requests under another person’s name or access their account. It is possible for faculty to authorize another individual (such as a student worker, staff person, or spouse) to pick up and check out physical ILL materials from the Circulation Desk on their behalf. (Note: this does not include access to the faculty member’s online ILL account or electronic downloads.)
  

  If you are interested in setting up an Authorized User on your account, please contact [email protected]. You remain responsible for any materials on your ILL account that are overdue, lost, or damaged, even if your Authorized User is the only one who has handled the material.  

  Copyright

  Copyright Compliance
  When requesting articles not held by Preus Library (either in print or electronic format), our copyright compliance is guided by the CONTU “Rule of Five”. We are allowed to request five articles published within the last five years from a given journal title. For any number of articles beyond five, the library pays a copyright clearance fee. Additionally, our library may only request one article from each issue of a given journal title per user; requests for additional articles from that same issue are also subject to the copyright clearance fee.

  For ebooks or scans of print book chapters, only one chapter or article may be requested electronically. If more than one chapter is desired, patrons are encouraged to request a full print copy of the book.

  Photocopies of Articles
  Photocopies of periodical articles may be restricted due to US Copyright Law.

  The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified by law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a copy or other reproduction. One of the specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research”.

  If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopied reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. Preus Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order, if, in its judgment, fulfilling the order would involve violation of copyright law.

  Lending Policies

  What libraries are eligible to borrow Preus Library materials?
  All US academic, public, and special libraries are eligible to borrow materials from our library. We also lend to Canadian libraries and international libraries. We charge postage for items loaned to libraries outside the US and Canada.

  Materials available through Interlibrary Loan from Preus Library
  Books, journal articles, newspapers on microfilm, and dissertations (if in the library’s circulating collection) are all available for interlibrary loan. Articles longer than 50 pages may be supplied on a case-by-case basis. We will lend DVDs, CDs, VHS tapes, reference materials, and Norwegian genealogy material on a case-by-case basis, with some lending restrictions. Restrictions may include in-library use only, no renewal, shortened check out time, return by traceable courier, return in box, and/or no photocopying.

  Non-circulating materials at Preus Library
  Our library does not lend full ebooks; periodical volumes; books with “New Book” status; materials considered rare, fragile, or too valuable to lend; materials on reserve; or books in our Leisure Reading collection.

  How to request an interlibrary loan
  We prefer requests through OCLC Worldshare Interlibrary Loan and SILO, but will also accept interlibrary loan requests via fax, email, mail, and phone. Please use ALA request forms, if possible, when not requesting through Worldshare or SILO.

  Interlibrary loan fees
  We are a member of LVIS, BCR, IPAL, Iowa’s AccessPlus, and BCR/Amigos, all organizations that agree to lend library materials at no charge. We lend free to all libraries within the United States and Canada, unless there are extraordinary costs involved with RUSH requests and fragile or oversized materials.  We charge postage to lend to international libraries.

  Loan periods
  Our usual loan period for items is 10 weeks. We allow a 1-month renewal, unless there is a recall/hold on the item.

  Delivery methods
  We use the US Postal Service as our delivery carrier for most loans, but will use UPS for items requiring tracking and/or insurance. For document delivery, we use Odyssey, email, and the US Postal Service. We are a member of the MOBIUS/IaLA Courier Service network, and we send items via courier service to participating libraries in the region.

  Interlibrary Loan Schedule
  The Interlibrary Loan department follows the Luther College academic calendar. We try to provide interlibrary loan service during breaks and holidays if the library is open, but this is contingent on workload and student work schedules. Please plan accordingly when requesting interlibrary loans during scheduled Luther College breaks and holidays.

  Replacement Costs
  We will notify libraries with overdue materials of approximately four weeks regarding the replacement costs. Whether or not a library receives an overdue notice from us, the borrowing library is responsible for a $40 replacement fee plus a $20 processing fee for each Preus Library item lost. If our library does not receive the interlibrary loan material(s) back, the borrowing library is responsible for the replacement cost, even if documentation indicates the item was mailed back.

  References:

  • Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States prepared by the Interlibrary Loan Committee, Reference and User Services Association, 1994; revised 2001. Approved by the RUSA Board of Directors January 2001.
  • Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States Explanatory Supplement January 2001.
  • United States Copyright Law from Title 17, US Code.
  • Policies on Copyright Law and Fair Use. Preus Library, Luther College.

  Updated August 3, 2021

• Students

  ID Cards

  All Luther College students must use their ID cards to check out materials from the Library.

  View Your Library Account

  Due Dates and Renewals

  Books from the Main Stacks are due on the following dates:

  • Fall semester midterm
  • End of fall semester
  • End of J-term
  • Spring semester midterm
  • End of spring semester

  Books may be renewed beginning five days before the due date. They will then be due on the next due date. Books may be renewed once online. After that, they MUST be brought in physically to the circulation desk to be renewed.

  Books from the Curriculum Library are due two weeks after checkout.

  Books from the Leisure Reading area are due two weeks from the day of checkout.

  Overdues

  Notices for overdue materials from the Main Stacks will be as follows:

  • First Notice: Reminders at mid-term and finals will be emailed to your Luther College email address.
  • Second Notice: Issued 4-10 days after the due date.
  • Third Notice: Book replacement costs charged 4-10 days after the SECOND NOTICE is issued. A charge of $60.00 per item, which includes replacement and handling charges, will be imposed plus a $20.00 nonrefundable processing fee.

  Students are responsible for the timely return of all materials, whether or not they receive any reminder or overdue notices from Preus Library. To see what you have checked out and when it is due, click on Library Account on the Library Research page http://www.luther.edu/library/.

  Reserves

  Most items at the Reserve Desk will be on reserve for 2-hour periods for in-library use only. Items include books, photocopies, keys for group study rooms, and DVDs. Laptops, headphones, and independent study rooms are a 4-hour checkout.

  The fine for items on reserve is $.25 per hour or $6.00 per day, up to a maximum of $10.00 per item. The fine for laptop computers is $.50 per hour.

  Recalls

  Books may be recalled from another patron. Contact the Circulation Desk to place a recall. Original borrowers are notified of their new due dates (seven days from the date of recall). Fine and replacement charges, if any, are assessed according to the fine schedule. Patrons requesting the recalls are notified when the book is returned.

  Equipment

  Media equipment, including digital cameras, is available for 24-hour check-out, beginning from the moment of check-out, for students. External hard-drives have a 7-day loan period. This equipment may be used outside of the library.

  The media equipment fine is $.25/hour per individual part (e.g., some of the cameras have seven individual bar-coded parts).

  Laptop Computers and iPads

  MacBooks and PCs are loaned according to Reserve checkout guidelines. They are available as 4-hour check-outs, for in-library use only.

  The laptop computer and iPad fine is $.50 per hour. Anyone who checks out a laptop or iPad is liable for a replacement fee for loss or damage up to $1,500. An additional processing fee may also be charged.

  DVDs

  DVDs may be checked out for three days for viewing outside the library.

  If not promptly returned, a FIRST NOTICE will be issued one day after the due date. A second notice will follow prior to a final LOST DVD notice six days after the due date, which will include replacement costs of $60.00 (replacement and handling fees) plus a $20.00 nonrefundable processing fee per item.

  Non-circulating Library Materials

  The following materials may not be checked out:

  • Reference materials
  • Bound periodicals
  • Single issue periodicals
  • Curriculum Library textbooks
  • Closed Stacks books
  • Rare books
  • Archival materials