Library Student Worker Guide: Library Policies

21 Day Circulation - Materials that circulate for 21 days include:

Books and materials in the general circulating collection, Campus Only Books, Display books, Government Documents, Maps, Pamphlets, Non-print Materials, Phonotapes, Career Resources, and Prints. 

Books in the general collection and display books may be renewed once. Campus Only Books are not renewable.

1 Week Circulation - Compact Discs, Curriculum Library materials (including tests, juvenile, and picture books), DVD’s, Campus Only DVDs, books and DVDs kept behind the Circ. Desk, and Videotapes circulate on a 1-week loan period.

Most of the items that are circulated for one week can be renewed once and accrue $0.50 per day fine. Exceptions to this rule are Career Resources, Circ. Desk books and DVDs, Curriculum Library Materials (including tests, juvenile, and picture books). These still accrue $0.50 per day fine. 

Circ. Desk Materials - Materials that can be found at the circ. desk such as Curriculum Library Cards, Phone Chargers, Extension Cords, and more have varying circulation timelines. Make sure that you look at the due date and verbally tell students when they are due. For example, phone charges, extension cords, and headphones typically check out for 4 hours. These accrue a $0.50 per hour fine.

Overnight Circulation - Periodicals and Reference books may circulate overnight only (1 hour before closing) and are due at opening on the following day. They are not renewable and have a $0.50 per day fine. 

Reserves - Materials on Reserve circulate for a specified time period (2 hours, 4 hours, 24 hours, and 72 hours). (The system automatically calculates this.) 2 hour and 4 hour reserves may be signed out overnight, if available, on a first-come, first-serve basis. They are due back the next day when the library opens.

These materials are not renewable. 2 hour and 4 hour reserves have a $0.50 per hour fine and 24 hour and 72 hour reserves have a $0.50 per day fine. 

Vining and Special Collections - Books in the Vining, Special, Early, Brooks, or Temperance collections do not circulate outside of the library. They must be used in the Archives. If someone requests access please refer them to Sarah or to the archives@gordon.edu email. 

Interlibrary Loan - The period of an interlibrary loan depends on the status of the patron. There are no renewals available on interlibrary loans. (Interlibrary Loans should not be confused with NOBLE books which circulate like any material in the general collection.) Faculty and Adjunct Faculty have a 120 day circulation and do not accrue fines. Staff members have a 42 day circulation and do not accrue fines. Graduate and undergraduate students as well as other users have a 21 day circulation and have a $0.50 per day fine. 

Faculty - Faculty loans for books are for four months, with the exception of new books which circulate for 21 days. All other types of materials circulate for the normal periods. Any requests for a longer loan period or renewal must be granted by the circulation manager. Faculty do not accrue fines.

Staff - Staff loans for books are for 42 days, with the exceptions noted above for faculty. Staff members also do not accrue fines. 

Guests - Guests include all non-Gordon patrons. Loan periods for guests are the same as Gordon students with the exception of reserves. Guests are not allowed to check out anything that is on reserve or anything from the Curriculum Library area.

Recall - All materials checked out are subject to recall three weeks after the original checkout date. Exception: materials needed for reserve are subject to immediate recall with no three-week waiting period.

What is fined?

1. Course Reserves
2. Curriculum Tests
3. Library of Things items (charging cords, extension cords, calculator, ukuelele, etc. 
4. Long Overdue, lost, or damaged items (replacement cost)

What isn't fined?

1. General Stack books (1-5)
2. New books
3. Display books
4. DVDs
5. Scores
6. CDs
7. Holcomb Collection
8. Pretty much anything not listed under the fined category

Who can use curriculum tests? Tests are available for use by Education faculty or students currently enrolled in a Gordon course evaluating test materials.

Location: Jenks 309 (in DVD hallway) – To protect the integrity of these tests, this room remains locked at all times. The Circulation Desk staff can let you in for short browsing. The room is not meant for test use or studying.

Organization: Tests are organized by type or subject (Achievement, Diagnostic, Intelligence, Language Arts, Math, etc.), then by name, publisher, and date.

Searching catalog: You can search the library’s catalog for specific tests at gordon.noblenet.org or through the NOBLE app. Look for status “Available” for tests that are ready to be checked out.

Checking out: Curriculum tests are checked out for 7 days and cannot be renewed. Tests accrue late fines of $0.50 per day overdue.

Returning: Please return tests to the Circulation Desk with all parts and pieces inside the container.

More info at: https://library.gordon.edu/curriculum-library/curriculum-tests

WIAT 4 Curriculum Test - Subtest and Composite Score Computation Form

The Subtest and Composite Score Computation Form is a PDF on the flash drive found in the front mesh pocket inside the WIAT 4 test bag. Once plugged into a laptop or computer the PDF can be opened in a web browser or Adobe Digital Editions. It will not open in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Donation Policy
 

Donations will be accepted by appointment only. Please adhere to the following standards when donating materials:

We do not accept:

• CDs, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, computer software, textbooks more than 10 years old, magazines, encyclopedias, or outdated reference materials.
• Books with mold, mildew, excessive dust or dirt, water damage, excessive marks or highlights, or missing pages.

We do accept:

• Donations of all types of books that align with our collection and mission.

Donations will be accepted at the discretion of the library staff and any materials not added to the collection will be given away or recycled. We cannot return donated books to the donor.

Student workers are not allowed to accept donations without prior instruction from library staff.

If you would like to start the donation process, please fill out the form here: https://forms.office.com/r/zt1r0BqR67

If you have any questions, please email library@gordon.edu.

If an in-person patron is giving you a particularly hard time ("a hissy fit" if you will), you may accept the donation. They may bring the materials to the front desk, but you are not responsible (or need to) help them bring their materials to the circ desk (whether from outside, the back parking lot, or wherever else.

Children in the Library 

Our stated policy is, “Caregivers are responsible for the conduct and safety of all minors in the library. Minors under the age of 14 are welcome in Jenks Library if they are always accompanied by an adult.”  

The goal with unaccompanied children policies is not to ban children from the library, but rather to reinforce that library staff (including you) cannot be responsible for the supervision of children. You are never expected to care for unaccompanied children, only to be kind and work with GoPo to reunite them with their responsible adult. 

If you find a child who doesn’t have a caregiver present:  

1. Attempt to find their caregiver. Introduce yourself and your job to the child and ask where their parents are. For example, “Hi, I’m Carolyn, and I work at this library. I need to find your parent. Can you point out where they are?”  

2. Contact a library staff member. You are also welcome to do this as a first step.  

3. If the child is not causing a disturbance, you don’t need to escalate it in the moment. If you see them being picked up by a faculty or staff member, please email Dr. Myron Schirer-Suter (myron.schirer-suter@gordon.edu) with the faculty or staff member’s name(s) and a brief description of what happened, so that he can follow up. 

4. If it is during the evening or the weekend, and the child has not been able to point out their caregiver, you can tell the child, “You’re not in trouble, but I’m going to need to call GoPo so that they can sit with you and call your parents.” Call GoPo and let them know that there’s an unaccompanied child in the library, and you need their help contacting their caregiver. 

Students can make study room reservations and see which study rooms are open by visiting https://schedulejenks.gordon.edu/.

1. Each patron can only have one reservation at a time.
2. Rooms can be reserved in half hour increments for a maximum of 3 hours per day, per user.
3. Do not overbook rooms. Overbooking may result in reservations being cancelled. Be especially courteous during finals week.
4. Check-in once you arrive at your room. There is a 15 minute "grace period" for you to arrive. After the 15 minute period, your reservation expires if the room is not occupied.
5. Please cancel your reservation if you will not be using the space as planned.
6. Vacant study rooms may be used on a first come first served basis. Please note that you may be asked to leave if someone with a reservation arrives.
7. Do not leave any personal material unattended. The library is not responsible for any thefts.

Curriculum Library Policies

Location: The Curriculum library is located next to the computer on the third stack, past the glass door.

How to access: Only education majors have IDs that can directly access the Curriculum Library, however anyone can check out an access card at the desk.

Access card location: The previously mentioned access cards is located in the same box as the Costco and BJ's card. Both the divider for the cards and the cards themselves have Curriculum Library Key Card.

What can be checked out and by who: Anyone in our library system may check out any of the picture or juvenile books, however only education majors, professors, and education graduate school students may checkout the other materials available in the Curriculum Library.

Who cannot checkout materials: People who are not apart of Gordon or NOBLE may not check out any materials from the curriculum library.

Replacement Costs - We have a lot of overdue materials as of right now and people are starting to see replacement costs showing up on their accounts. These books need to be returned ASAP or the fine you see in their library account will be sent to the Financial Offices. Once this has been sent, it is charged to their student account, and it is out of our hands. Meaning we cannot clear those fines/fees once they are sent. Because these fines exceed the fines amount, you are unable to check books out to these patrons. 

1. For someone trying to check out a book
   1. Tell them that they exceed the fines threshold. 
   2. Check what the fines are for (go to the tab marked "Bills") and tell them the amount.
   3. If the books are highlighted yellow with a "Long Overdue" designation, the fees are replacement costs. 
   4. Let them know that these books need to be returned ASAP or they risk it being charged to their student account.
   5. If the fee statement hasn't already been sent to the Financial Office, the fees will clear once the books are checked in.
2. If someone approaches saying they have long overdue books
   1. Check their account - use their ID to go to their library account and click on the "Bills" tab. 
   2. Follow the steps above.

       

Long Overdue Books - When long overdue books are checked in, they trigger an alert message that says, "Long Overdue." Please send an email Naomi with the title "Long Overdue Returned" and tell her the title and barcode on the book. This is an imperative step, otherwise Ben has to run around looking for these books just to find them on the shelf. 

Service Animals & Emotional Support Animals (ESA)

Jenks Library welcomes all service animals. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines service animals as “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.” Massachusetts includes service animals in training in this definition. For more information on the ADA and service animals, click here!

Emotional support animals provide emotional support but do not have specific training to assist with work or tasks; they are not considered service animals under the ADA. Emotional support animals are allowed in Jenks Library, but they must be leashed, harnessed, or tethered, and may be asked to leave if they are disruptive to other patrons. For questions about emotional support animals in Jenks Library, please email library@gordon.edu. For more information on emotional support animals in dormitories, please contact Student Life.

Gordon College policy is that dogs must be leashed at all times anywhere on campus property.

Legally, we must accommodate service animals but do not have to accommodate emotional support animals (ESAs) in Jenks Library. ESAs are not considered service animals under the ADA, but there are provisions for ESAs under the Fair Housing Act, which does not apply to public buildings such as Jenks Library.

If a patron complains that an ESA is being disruptive, whether that is due to allergies, fear, or noise, we can ask for the ESA to relocate or leave the library. We cannot and do not ask a service animal to leave the library.

To distinguish between service animals and ESAs, library staff are permitted to ask the following two questions about service animals:

1. Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
2. What task or service is the animal trained to perform?

Additionally, service animals can only be dogs, or, in rare instances, miniature horses.

You cannot ask for:

• Information about their disability
• Documentation on the disability or the dog’s training
• A demonstration of the dog’s training

Please feel free to contact a librarian or library staff for help.