The Library places 12,000 items “on reserve” each year. In order to make a shared copy of key works available to everyone enrolled in the course, reserve items are loaned for short periods — generally 2 hours or 1 day. Beginning this fall semester, all overdue course reserve items will incur fines, since late returns deprive other students from access to the required materials.
With this new policy, reserves fines are the same across all campus libraries; they cannot be waived or appealed. The fine is $2.50/hour after the due date. Once the item is so late to be deemed lost it incurs a replacement cost and processing fee. At the maximum fine, the borrower’s account is blocked and the borrower must pay the full bill to be cleared.
For borrowers who return items on time, course reserves will continue to be a free service. As with all library materials, it is the borrower’s responsibility to take care of reserve items. Library staff will be making an extra effort to publicize the new uniform fining policy in the hopes that all students avoid unnecessary charges.