New borrowing rules will take effect from 2 March 2009. The new rules
- increase the number of items you can have on loan
- increase loan periods
- revise the demerit schedule
- make short loans subject to demand
High demand items
The new borrowing rules remove fixed short loans (one week). All loan periods
will be subject to recall, with demand determining the loan period. If the item
you have on loan becomes a high demand item and is recalled, your loan period
will be reduced to one week and you will be notified of the new due date by
email.
If you fail to return a recalled item on time you will be blocked from borrowing.
To keep high demand items circulating as quickly as possible requests must be
collected within four days of receiving the notification that the item is available.
Demerit points
Each overdue item will accrue demerit points as follows:
- Reserve collection items: 5 points per hour overdue
- Recalled items: 10 points per day overdue
- All other items: 2 points per day overdue
Suspensions will be seven days for every 60 demerit points.
Feedback
The new rules will be trialled over 2009 and feedback can be forwarded to
Margaret Colmer, Lending Services and Document Delivery Librarian.
I like the idea of these, however I think the rule about loans becoming high demand and being recalled will be tough, especially for people who are studying programs which require a lot of travel (ie environmental science programs) and may not be able to bring it back on such short notice. I hope I don’t get snagged on this one!
Thanks for the comment, Gillian.
I’ve forwarded it to our Lending Services Librarian.
Alan
We will be monitoring the impact of the new rules closely.
One of the intentions with the recall arrangements is to maximise use of the collection. If you are away for an extended period, for study or a holiday, it is helpful to return library items that you are not actively using while you are away.
If you need to take items with you while on your study travel and get snagged with a recall please don’t hesitate to let us know.
Will the demerit points, once earned, ever go away?
If you reach 60 points you will be suspended for one week and the suspension process removes these points from your record.
Traditionally, each year just before the beginning of Semester 1 we run a demerit point amnesty where 30 points are removed.