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Library Loans and Access Policy

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Section 1 - Purpose of Policy

(1) This Policy provides information about accessing and borrowing resources from the University of Wollongong Library Service.

(2) The Policy relates to all staff, students, alumni and guests using the Library Service.

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Section 2 - Eligibility

(3) UOW staff and enrolled students are eligible for library membership. The UOW student or staff card is also a Library card and the UOW username and password enables access to Library electronic resources.

(4) UOW alumni are eligible to apply for library membership. Applications can be made online via the alumni webpage. Benefits, including access to physical and electronic resources, can be found on the library website.

(5) Guests are welcome to apply for library membership. Details on eligibility, application and benefits, including access to physical and electronic resources can be found on the Library website.

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Section 3 - General Conditions of Loan

(6) No person may remove any item from the Library without a loan transaction having first been made.

(7) Loan transactions can be made via self-check or by taking items to the service desk.

(8) A valid University student, staff, alumni or guest card is required to complete a physical loan transaction.

(9) Library cards are not transferrable other than in exceptional circumstances such as an Academic’s Research Assistant, or a representative of a user with a disability or illness. In such cases, a representative must show written authorisation from the card owner.

(10) The Library follows the University Privacy Statement and its supporting documents. See the Privacy Policy, the Privacy Management Plan and UOW Student Privacy and Disclosure Statement for more information.

(11) Users are able to place a hold on an item that is on loan. This will activate a recall of the item. A notification is sent when the item is ready to be picked up.

(12) Users are able to renew items online.

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Section 4 - Responsibilities of Library Users

(13) All Library users are required to abide by Campus Access and Order Rules and all other relevant UOW policy documents.

(14) The user is responsible for the safe keeping and timely return of all items borrowed from the Library.

(15) Users are responsible for returning items that have been recalled by the date indicated in the recall notice.

(16) Users are responsible for regularly checking emails for Library notices.

(17) Users borrowing or using Library resources are required to abide by copyright and licensing rules. For detailed information or to ask questions see the Copyright Policy and the IT Acceptable Use Policy and the Copyright Act 1968.

(18) Users must return all borrowed materials to the Library by the advised return date.

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Section 5 - Penalties, Fees and Charges

(19) Failure to return a restricted or recalled loan by the date/time due will incur a fine: see the Library website for details.

(20) Document Delivery items have separate guidelines and rules. These rules are available on the Library website.

(21) Outstanding fines or fees may result in the loss of borrowing privileges, see Library Website for details.

(22) If an item is not returned within 30 days of its due date, the user will be billed the replacement fee.

(23) Where an item is lost or damaged beyond repair or further use, the user will be billed the replacement fee.

(24) Details of fine and fee amounts and payment methods are listed on the Library website .

(25) Failure to pay fine and fees within the time specified on the billing notice may result in the deployment of UOW debt recovery services.

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Section 6 - User Categories and Conditions

(26) A list of user categories and borrowing conditions can be found on the Library website.

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Section 7 - Appeals

(27) Clients may request to appeal a fine or penalty by providing a reasonable explanation or exceptional circumstances via email to Client Services.

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Section 8 - Roles and Responsibilities

(28) The Library Client Services Team is responsible for administering the terms of use including determining eligibility, loan conditions, penalties and appeals.

(29) Matters that are not able to be resolved by the Library Client Services Team Leader can be escalated to the Manager, Client Experience (Library Services).

(30) The responsibilities of the user are noted within this policy.

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Section 9 - Definitions

Word/Term	Definition (with examples if required)
Alumni	A UOW graduate member.
Document Delivery	Resources lent from other libraries or collections outside of the UOW Library system.
Electronic Resources or E-Resources	Materials in digital format accessible electronically. Examples of e-resources are electronic journals (e-journal), electronic books (e-book) online databases in varied digital formats, Adobe Acrobat documents (.pdf), WebPages (.htm, .html, .asp etc) and more.
Enrolled	The status of a student who is formally enrolled in a course at the University of Wollongong
Guests	Guests may include, but are not limited to: community members, high schools, persons covered under reciprocal arrangements with industry and other university libraries, visiting academics.
Hold	The Library reservation system which users can use to reserve an item for a limited period of time prior to checking it out.
Item	Includes any resource, facility or service (including online or networked resource or service) available in or through the Library.
Library UOW Library University of Wollongong Library Service	The terms Library, UOW Library or University of Wollongong Library Service includes any physical site, equipment, or collection managed by or on behalf of UOW Library, including computers and electronic services.
Library Card	Means any student card, staff card or a library card issued by the University.
Recall	Items that have been flagged for return to the Library prior to the original due date.
Research Assistant	A UOW Research Assistant affiliated with an UOW academic staff member
Self-check	UOW Library Borrowing app or kiosk which enable self-mediated checkout.
Service Desk	The service desk or circulation desk at all relevant Library sites.
Staff	All persons appointed by the University as academic or professional services staff holding full-time, part-time, limited-term or casual appointments, including conjoint appointments.
Student	A person enrolled in, or registered for a University of Wollongong course or unit of study, whether located onshore, offshore or online.
Standard Loan Collection	Items in the library collections that are not otherwise classed into special or restricted loan categories. Standard loan items make up the bulk of the Library’s physical resource collection.
Restricted Loan	Items on restricted loan terms due to high demand.
UOW	University of Wollongong.
User	Any person using the services and facilities provided by the Library