=A statement of general policy in regard to inter-library loans=
The primary purpose of inter-library loans is the promotion of
scholarship by placing books not commonly accessible and not in use in
one library, temporarily at the service of a scholar who has access
to some other library. It should not be allowed to interfere with the
reasonable and customary use of books by home readers, and the extent
to which sending can be carried depends on the local conditions of
the lending library, the importance of the service to be rendered, the
character of the books desired, the distance to which they are to be
sent, and a number of other circumstances.
The larger university libraries, having large numbers of professors,
advanced students and other professional scholars immediately dependent
on them, may find it necessary to restrict the scope of their loans in
justice to their local constituency, while others may rightly extend
the system beyond the limits indicated, so as to meet the wants of
readers in public libraries, teachers in high schools, and others.
Libraries should not be expected to lend text-books for general class
use, popular manuals or books for the general reader, inexpensive books
and those which can easily be procured through the book-trade, books
to assist in school or college debates, or books for ordinary purposes
of school or undergraduate study. Neither should they lend books which
are likely to be in frequent demand by their own readers, or books
which they do not lend at home on the ground that they ought always to
be accessible on the shelves. In this respect practice will naturally
differ widely, one library being ready to lend books which another
would consider it necessary to keep always at hand.
Caution should be exercised in lending volumes of newspapers,
periodicals or society transactions and parts of expensive sets, since
such volumes, if lost, are disproportionately expensive and sometimes
practically impossible to replace. Moreover, periodicals and society
publications are often unexpectedly wanted for the purpose of verifying
references, etc., and students may justly expect that they will always
be accessible with a minimum of delay.
The borrowing library should bear the expense of transportation both
ways, and additional charges, if required, for the insurance of
specially valuable books. It should be financially responsible for the
replacement of books lost or injured in transit.
Borrowing libraries should take pains to borrow from sources nearest at
hand or most naturally under obligation to lend.
Titles of books wanted should be given with all practicable precision,
both to insure getting the very thing asked for and to make the labor
of finding the book as light as possible for the lending library.
Applications for loans should always be made through the librarian of
the borrowing library and not directly by the professor or student
for whose advantage the loan is desired. If books are lent on direct
request of the individual, not transmitted through the library with
which he is associated, this library cannot be held responsible for
the prompt and safe return of the books or for replacing them if lost
in transit. Librarians are therefore justified in declining to lend on
direct request and in insisting that application must be made through
the librarian.
A library is justified in placing a limit on the number of
volumes which it may be expected to lend at one time to a single
institution--say five or ten volumes.
Loans should be made for a definite period, but the length of this
period naturally varies with the occasion. The period begins with the
despatch of the book from the lending library and ends with the day on
or before which the book should be sent off by the borrowing library.
If an extension of time is desired, it should be asked for long enough
in advance of the book's being due to enable an answer to be received.
Books may always be recalled by the lending library in advance of the
date originally named if needed for the reasonable service of its home
readers.
In lending rare books, large volumes, portfolios of plates, etc., a
library may be expected to insist that they must be used only within
the building of the borrowing library. In some cases, it may be
advisable to put the same restriction on all books lent.
Fines may properly be charged and collected for books detained beyond
the allotted time without request for extension. Repeated failure
to return books promptly, or negligence in packing them safely is
sufficient ground for declining to make further loans. When books
are sent out or returned, separate notice of the fact should be
sent by mail, stating date of shipment, mode of conveyance, etc. It
is recommended that blank forms prepared for this purpose be used.
Applications for loans may also most conveniently be made on suitable
blanks.
Libraries that are called upon for frequent loans are justified
in making a moderate charge in connection with every volume lent,
sufficient in the long run to cover the administrative expense involved
in looking up and sending off volumes asked for. This charge is not to
be considered as a payment for the use of the book, but is intended
simply to relieve the lending library of an undue burden of expense
unavoidably attendant upon the system of lending with some freedom to
other libraries.
It is recommended that libraries arrange so that the services of some
competent person may be regularly available at a moderate charge for
looking up information, verifying references, etc., when the time and
labor involved in such inquiries seem to exceed what may reasonably
be demanded of the library staff. The employment of such a person to
obtain specific information will also occasionally serve in place of
making a loan.
It is also suggested that the possession of a cameragraph, for making
rotary bromide prints, or other similar device by which facsimile
copies can be made inexpensively, would often enable a library to send
a satisfactory copy of portions of a rare book or manuscript in place
of lending the original.