Policies
Drink and Snack Policy
Only bring approved food and drinks in containers with tight-fitting lids into the Library! Food and liquids attract insects and rodents that can eat books' paper, cloth, leather and glues. Infestations of insects that damage paper-based collections are extremely hard to eliminate and are almost inevitable in a situation where food and drink and their remains (food wrappers, containers, crumbs, etc.) are a constant presence in book areas. After eating, some food molecules remain on your hands and transfer to the furniture, equipment, and library materials you handle, attracting pests. Liquids are easily spilled on materials, causing staining, mold, and other water damage. Protect your library by observing this important policy. Wash your hands after eating, clean up your work area and throw any wrappers, soda bottles, crumbs, etc. into the trash.
Items That Do Not Circulate
- Reference books
- Special Collections materials
- Items on Permanent Reserve
- Items on Class Semester Reserve
- Microforms
Unclassed Periodicals
Sound recordings
Certain Government Document Items:
U.S. Congressional Records
U.S. Census materials
U.S. Statutes at Large
U.S. Code
Books previously classified as non-circulating
Brittle books (often identified as such at time of check-out and then have their status changed to non-circulating in our on-line catalogue)
Damaged books with any one of the following characteristics:
- Have badly torn spines or spine is loose/torn on the top
- Have one or more boards beginning to come off or has completely detached board(s)
- Books which are very loose in their case or text block has completely or partially detached from the case
- Volumes with one or more loose pages
- Books with broken or loose sewing, detached signitures
- Perfect bindings whose text blocks are broken in sections or splitting
On request, minor repairs of damaged books, videos or microfilm can be done in-house to allow them to go out within 24 hours. Contact or visit the Preservation Department in the Kelvin Smith Library, LL-23.
For more information see the GENERAL LIBRARY POLICIES