Borrowing

All of our students and staff are entitled to borrow library material.

Before you can borrow you must have a student card or a library card. You apply for a student card through the client services counter on any campus. If a student card is not available within a few days it is possible to get a temporary student library card from the campus library. These can be used for up to six weeks.

You can:

• borrow material from any of our libraries.
• borrow up to 15 items at a time (limits may vary depending on item type)
• borrow most books and magazines for 3 weeks. DVDs, videos and special collections may have shorter loan periods.
• return borrowed items to any of our libraries.
• renew your loans by phone, email, in person or do it yourself on the catalogue
• place holds on items that are currently on loan
• request that an item be sent from any of our libraries to the one which is most convenient to you. We also post resources to students who are studying off campus and are not easily able to get to a library.

Please return borrowed material by the due date. We do send overdue notices, but failure to receive a notice does not remove your obligation to return items on time. Please note that charges may apply to items that are overdue and must be paid before further borrowing. In particular, special collections attract a $1.00 a day charge for late return. Borrowers are also invoiced for the replacement cost of items that are long overdue and if the account is not settled within a reasonable period the matter is referred to a collection service agency.

We have reciprocal borrowing agreements with a number of interstate TAFE institutions. A list of these is available on the TAFE Libraries Australia website.
We also have a reciprocal borrowing agreement with the University of Tasmania Library and you can use your student card to borrow from there. However first you need to apply to us to have your library card activated on the University Library’s system.

Inter Library Loans

We offer this service where resources needed for research, study or teaching purposes are not held in any of the TAFE Tasmania libraries. This does not include loans from the State Library Service where the material is already accessible to all our staff and students.
Inter-library loan freight and postage costs are covered by us but we pass on any fee applied by the supplying organisation. We will advise you if this is the case before proceeding.

Student Cards and Library Cards

• All clients must have a student card or a library card issued by Library Services in order to borrow library resources, including equipment.
• Student cards are provided by Client Services and library cards for staff are provided by Library Services. Temporary student library cards will be issued under some circumstances.
• Library staff must be able to establish the identity of students initially. This will usually be through possession of a current student card or a current enrolment on the enrolment system, but may be by confirmation by a staff member as being a current student if the enrolment has not yet been processed.
• Verification of new staff for registration should be be made through relevant work unit or team.
• All registrations for staff and continuing students are renewed each calendar year.
• The card must be presented when borrowing.
• The person named on the card is responsible for all items borrowed on that card unless the card is reported lost before the items were borrowed.
• Clients should notify library staff of a change of contact details or lost card as soon as practicable.

Loans and loan maximum values

• Items can be returned to any campus library.
• Normal loan maximums are staff: 50 items, students: 15 items.
• The normal loan period (i.e. loan period for most items) is three weeks.
• Off-Campus students have 4 days added to their normal loan period to allow for postage time.
• Special collections, as defined in the Library Services collection management policy, will have loan periods determined by the Librarian in consultation with the teacher concerned.
• Clients can renew items by telephone, by fax, in person or via the Internet, up to a maximum of two renewals per item.
• In special circumstances items may be recalled before the due date. Customers must comply promptly with such a request.
• Restricted loan items (i.e. high demand, short term loan items from the library restricted loan collection) must be returned by the specified time and date nominated by library staff.

Equipment Loans

• Similar borrowing conditions apply to equipment loans as for learning resources.
• Some equipment loans for off campus use may require a signed declaration for loss or damage.
• Borrowed equipment must be used for the purposes of the organisation only.

Overdue Loans and charges

• As a courtesy, overdue notices will be sent to all clients with overdue items. However non-receipt of an overdue notice does not remove the obligation of the client to return the material by the due date, nor to pay any overdue charge accruing.
• Clients who consistently have overdue items or who fail to promptly return items once advised may have borrowing rights suspended.
• Where overdue charges apply, these normally accrue at the rate of $1.00 per week. The first charge applies when the item enters its second day overdue.
• Overdue charges for short term loan materials, which are clearly marked as such, accrue at the rate of $1.00 per day.
• Clients will not be charged more than $5 for any one overdue loan of one item.
• Borrowing rights will be suspended if $10 or more is owing.
• Replacement costs for lost or damaged items will be charged to the client. Such charges also include the usual, additional costs incurred by Library Services in preparing an item for addition to a library collection (e.g. packaging, covering reinforcing, barcoding).
• Any person with existing overdue or other charges will be unable to renew a registration until all outstanding charges are paid.
• Once a Library Services invoice is generated for lost or long overdue material, all borrowing rights will be suspended until the invoice is reconciled.
• Recovery of outstanding debts greater than $30 will be pursued through a debt collection agency.
• In special circumstances, the Librarian may shorten or waive any period of suspension of borrowing rights or charge.

Extra mural borrowers

• Members of the community and students from other educational institutions may apply to become extra mural borrowers.
• Applicants must be 18 years old or over and have proof of identity.
• A charge of $55 applies for a 12 month period or $33 for a six month period.
• Library services to extra mural borrowers are restricted in the following ways:-
  • All items must be collected in person from a campus library.
  • Most DVDs and videos will not be available for lending due to the copyright agreements associated with their purchase or off-air recording.
  • Other library services such as inter-library loans or access to library computers and other equipment, are not included in the agreement.