Vet Med Library Information: Policies

This page and corresponding tabs provide information about the Veterinary Medicine Library's resources, policies, services, etc. at Virginia Tech

[Image under CC0 license from Max Pixels]

Use of the library

The Vet Med Library is an information resource for persons involved in the study, teaching, research, and service activities of veterinary medicine and its related disciplines. It is the policy of this library to provide an environment conducive to the pursuits of these activities. Patrons whose actions or behaviors are disruptive to maintaining such an environment will be denied use of the library.

As a land-grant institution, the Vet Med Library is open to the public, however access to the building is restricted. For those that do not have keycard access to the building, see "Accessing the Vet Med Library" to obtain a visitor pass (this can only be done 8am-5pm, Monday-Friday).

Borrowing privileges

Books, bound journals, and equipment to be used outside of the library must be checked out at the front desk by presenting your Hokie Passport (not your college badge/swipe card). Note, some equipment must be checked out even if you plan to use it within the library (e.g. headphones, USB drives, calculators).

Patrons may log in to their library account to see the books they have currently checked out and to renew items if they still have renewals available for that item.

Privileges to borrow Vet Med Library materials and equipment can be suspended or revoked for:

failure to return materials/equipment
failure to pay fines and/or materials/equipment are sent to billing
abuse of the materials/equipment
abuse of lending policies

The following borrowing privileges are extended to borrower's in good standing.

	Graduate student	Faculty/Staff Interns/Residents	Undergraduate Students	Other VA patrons
Total number of items allowed on account at any given time:	150 items	150 items	50 items	50 items
Books (general collection)	180 day loan 3 renewals	365 day loan 3 renewals	30 day loan 4 renewals	30 day loan 4 renewals
Reserve Materials	variable loan periods limit 3	variable loan periods limit 15	variable loan periods limit 3	not available
Bound journals	7 day loan limit 5	7 day loan limit 5	7 day loan limit 5	7 day loan limit 5
Storage journals	21 day loan limit 150	21 day loan limit 150	21 day loan limit 50	21 day loan limit 50
DVDs	5 day loan limit 3	5 day loan limit 3	5 day loan limit 3	5 day loan limit 3
CDs	30 day loan limit 10 4 renewals	30 day loan limit 50 4 renewals	30 day loan limit 10 4 renewals	30 day loan limit 10 4 renewals

Other items:

Equipment: see Equipment page information
Special permissions: due dates vary, will be determined upon checkout and material being checked out.
Other items housed in the other University Libraries collections: due dates vary, check with library staff

Food and drink

Food and drink (in covered containers) are allowed in the library. However, to protect library materials and equipment from damage, to avoid potential insect and rodent infestations, and to maintain the professional appearance of the environment, wrappers/used food containers, etc. must be disposed of in the cafeteria garbage bins, and any spills must be cleaned up immediately (paper towels and disinfectants are available).

General circulation

The circulation policies of the main library on general materials apply to materials in all the branch libraries. Note, in the Veterinary Medicine Library these policies do not apply to visiting scientists and students. Instead, these borrowers must check out materials through their sponsors who are required to complete a proxy borrowing form granting them permission to do so for a period of time.

Overdue items, fines, and billing

The library does not issue patrons daily fines for overdue materials. The following chart explains the grace periods, billing, and when items are sent to the Bursar.

Item type	Fine accrual rate	Account blocked:	Billing (includes a $20 billing fee & $10 processing) occurs at:	Sent to Bursar:
Books, scripts, serials, periodicals, popular reading, and CD's	None	15 days overdue	45 days	60 days
DVD's, bound journals, and daily reserves	None	2 days overdue	5 days	7 days
Hourly items	$10/hour	4 hours overdue	10 hours	7 days
Hourly equipment loans	$10/hour	4 hours overdue	5 days overdue	7 days
Daily equipment loans	$25/day	2 days overdue	5 days overdue	7 days

If items are not returned by the end of the grace period, the borrower’s account will be blocked. No items will be checked out or renewed, including the overdue item(s) during this time. Patrons may still return the item without incurring fees until the item is billed, as noted in the timetable above.

The above does not apply to equipment or reserves. For these items, the grace period lasts from its due date until the end of the period listed in the 'Account Blocked' column above. Once the account blocked status has been reached, fines will accrue. Hourly items will not accrue time during periods when the library is closed.

If you cannot find an item that has been checked out to you, contact the library for options on providing a replacement. This option is sometimes less expensive than paying for the billed cost through the system, but this must be done before the bill is sent to the Bursar.

Any unpaid fines assessed to a borrower's account will prevent that person from checking out new materials.

Payment form

Fine appeal form

Reserve materials

Reserve materials circulate for 24 hours.
Reserve materials which are required/recommended for current classes circulate for two hours.
Exceptions to the above limits will be noted on the sign-out slip.
Reserve materials may be renewed once if no HOLD has been placed on the returned materials.
Items returned late will result in a fine of ten dollars for the first hour and ten dollars for each additional hour, with a maximum hourly fine of $50.
After two hours your account will be blocked from borrowing additional library items until you pay your fines.
Failure to return overdue Reserve materials which has accrued a maximum fine of $50 will result in the suspension of borrowing privileges of Reserve materials for a period of one month.
Failure to pay Reserve fines by the end of the semester will result in the suspension of borrowing privileges of Reserve materials for a period of one month at the beginning of the following semester.

Courier service

Any person may ask to have delivered to the Veterinary Medicine Library materials held in other libraries on campus and at the library storage facility.
Requests for materials received are usually filled within 48 hours. There are no deliveries on weekends so requests submitted after 9.00am on Friday will be delivered the following Monday.
Materials will be kept for 7 days behind the Circulation Desk. If they are not picked up within the 7 day period, they will be returned and must be requested again.

Special materials

Special categories of materials such as unbound journals, audiovisual programs, and some reference books, are checked out manually through special permission.
Only Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and graduate/DVM students have special permission check-out privileges.
Journals and reference materials checked out through special permission circulate overnight and are due the following day. Audiovisual programs circulate for two weeks unless they are on Reserve, whereby Reserve circulation policies apply.
Overdue returns of materials checked out through Special Permission will result in suspension of special permission borrowing privileges for a period of one month.
Items that are not returned will be billed to the borrower's account for replacement.