Litchfield Public Library District

Loan periods, interlibrary loan, reserve lists

Loan Periods

Most materials are loaned for fourteen (14) days. All DVDs and Blu-Rays, Cricut cartridges, and board games are loaned for 7 days (1 week). With the exception of DVDs / Blu-Rays and board games, as well as books with a reserve list, all materials can be renewed once.

Interlibrary Loan

The Litchfield Public Library District actively participates in the Illinois Heartland Library System and other public libraries within the state of Illinois in order to strengthen the services and resources available. "Interlibrary loan" is defined as the availability of books and materials for loan from sources other than the immediate collection of the Library. All library patrons who have successfully completed the new patron probationary period, and are not in violation of any other policy of the Library, are eligible to request material from interlibrary loan. Patrons who are reciprocal borrowers of the Litchfield Library (i.e. whose home library is one other than Litchfield Library) are not eligible for interlibrary loan from Litchfield Library. They must place all interlibrary loan requests through their home library.

A patron may request any material that the Library does not already own from interlibrary loan. A material that is owned by the Library but is currently on loan may not be requested unless the volume is missing or long overdue. There will be a limit of five (5) interlibrary loan items per family. As a norm, interlibrary loans are for a three (3) week period of time, and may not, under the guidelines of the Illinois Heartland Library System, be renewed.

The Library charges $ .25 per day for overdue interlibrary loan materials.

A $10.00 fee will be charged to the borrowing patron if an interlibrary loan book is lost or considered stolen. This fee is in addition to the cost of the item on loan, and will be levied when an interlibrary loan item is placed on the Litchfield Library’s account with Illinois Heartland Library System or ILLINET as "billed."

Patrons may not repeatedly request an item, or have another family member request it on their behalf. In order to prevent this, a two week wait time will be enforced between a patron returns an interlibrary loan item and the time the same patron can request the item again.

 When requesting a material, vital information such as title and author is important. The more information offered about a material, the better the chances of obtaining the material. On a subject request, the Library will choose three (3) titles from the available material.

 Requests are always subject to the discretion of the owning library. Some materials may be "non-circulating,"or "local request only," which allows no outside loans. Some materials may be loaned out with the provision of "in house use only," which does not allow the material to be removed from the borrowing library. The Library will not request any type of material it will not loan out. This includes microfilm  and materials for reference or genealogy purposes.

 As with locally reserved items, an interlibrary loan item will be held for seven (7) days, during which time the requesting patron will be telephoned. After this time, if contact has not been made, the item will be returned to the owning library. Once contact has been made, the patron will be give three (3) days to pick up the material before it is sent back to the owning library. Patrons who fail to pick up an interlibrary loan may be assessed a $1.00 fee.

Reciprocal Borrowing

The Litchfield Public Library District will honor all resident and non-resident library cards purchased from any public library within Illinois, regardless of library system affiliation, in our reciprocal borrowing program. All cards from other libraries are subject to verification of patron status from the home library, and patrons may be denied access to materials here if he/she is in violation of the home library’s circulation or any other policy. Patrons who use the reciprocal borrowing program at the Library are subject to the Litchfield Public Library District’s fines and fees, regardless of the home library’s policy.

Reserve Lists

Because of the popularity of certain authors or subjects, a reservation list may be placed on a material. Reserves will not be taken until a materials has been received in the Library. A patron requesting a reserve on a book must have a valid library card and telephone number on file with the Library.

A book will be held for three (3) days after telephone contact has been made with the patron whose name is next on the reserve list. If the book has not been picked up after three (3) days, it will be offered to the next patron, with the non-receiving patron retaining the priority position on the list. If a patron cannot be contacted within five (5) days, the book will be offered to the next patron on the list, again with the non-receiving patron remaining in the first position on the list.

Book which have a current reserve list cannot be renewed for any reason.

Stacks' Selection Club

Patrons can also join Stacks' Selection Club. Simply check off all the authors you love, and you will automatically be put onto the reserve lists for all new titles as they are released. We can't promise how soon you will get the title, but you won't have to worry about "missing" a book from your favorite authors. Forms are available at the circulation desk, and there is no fee to join.