CircRules

Circulation Rules

Checkout Limits

Patrons (except INSTITUTE, ONLINE, and NEIGHBOR) are allowed 99 checkouts at a time.

Hold Limits

For our physical items, patrons are allowed 50 holds at a time.

Circulation Rules by Item Type

Our more common Circ Rules are listed on our website.

MICRO (Microfilms), SOFTWARE, and REFBOOK (Reference Books) Item Types do not circulate

Items have two renewals unless specified.

Item Type	Limit	Description / Examples	Days	Renewable	Notes
3DOBJECT	1	Non-Traditional Items (Ukuele)	21
J-3DOBJECT	1	Non-Traditional Items (Stuffed Animals)	7		No longer any age restriction[4]
BACKPACK		Virginia State Parks, Mill Mountain Zoo, and New River Land Trust backpacks	14
BOARDBOOK		Boardbooks	21		None ever existed?
J-BOARDBK		Juvenile Boardbooks	21
BOOK		Books!	21
NEWBOOK		New Adult Fiction	14
J-BOOK		Juvenile Books	21
BK-CD		Book with CD	21
J-BK-CD		Juvenile Book with CD	21
CD		Books on CD	21
J-CD		Juvenile Books on CD	21
CD-MP3		Books on CD	21		No longer in use as of 01/2023
J-CD-MP3		Juvenile Books on CD	21		No longer in use as of 01/2023
CD-MUSIC		Music CDs	14
J-CD-MUSIC		Juvenile Music CDs	14
DVD	20	Adult DVDs	14
DVD-NEW	5	New Adult DVDs	7
J-DVD		Juvenile DVDs	14
J-DVD-NEW	5	New Juvenile DVDs	7
EBOOK_RDR	1	Ebook Readers (Kindles)	14
EQUIPMENT		Cables, Extension Cords, Portable Charging Kits, BB Projector Kit	End of the day		In-Building Circ only. The patron is billed replacement costs if not returned by the end of the following day.[1]
GAMECART		Gaming Carts in BB, FL, MPL	1 hour		In-Building Circ only. These are holdable, but only by patrons of that branch
GAMEDEVICE	1	Handheld gaming devices; currently Playaways and one long lost Nintendo DS3	7
HOTSPOT	1	Wifi Hotspots	14
ILL	3		21	No	Patrons are to have no bills and no overdue items when requesting ILLs [3] Use Special Due Date tool to match due date listed on the ILL bookstrip.[4]
KIT		Science Resource Hub kits	21
J-KIT		Includes Tough Subject backpacks; Library Connection kits; Early Literacy Curriculum kits; kits we compiled.	21
MAGAZINE			14		These items don't generate LOST bills if not returned, and the Notice Schedule is somewhat different.
PAPERBACK			21		No longer in use?
PASSES		Passes to museums	7	No
TELESCOPE	1		7	No	Juvenile Cards can not check out this item type[2]
VIDEOGAME	4	Titles for gaming consoles (like XBOX…)	14

Circ Rule Exceptions

By Library

See Mobile Library Rules, below.

By Item Type

None, except as noted in table above.

By User Profile

INSTITUTE Patrons are allowed an 8 week checkout period, no renewals, and can generally checkout 150 items at a time. This applies to all item types except ILL, TELESCOPE, HOTSPOT, and items that we don't circulate outside of the buildings (Equipment, Gamecarts, etc.). The INSTITUTEs receive limited notices. Branches manually reconcile these accounts for unreturned items annually. While INSTITUTEs have an increased checkout limit of 150 items, they still adhere to the Item Type Checkout Limits in the chart above.

MAIL patrons are allowed an 8 week checkout period with no renewals for all item types except ILL, TELESCOPE, HOTSPOT, and items that we don't circulate. MAIL patrons receive the same notices as regular patrons.

ONLINE cardholders are not allowed to check out items, and are limited to three holds. Online patrons (only) have card numbers that begin with 30222.

NEIGHBOR cardholders are allowed a maximum of three checkouts at a time, and are limited to 20 holds.

BOARD, RETIREDMFL, and STAFF have the same circ rules as regular patrons. However, the notice schedule may be different

LU- and LN- profiles are Library Use user accounts. The "LN-" is for Non-Recirculatable Library accounts, and the "LU-" is for accounts that will have items checked out to another patron. "LU-" includes user accounts like "Rotation" and "Display" accounts. All Library Use accounts' holds take precedence over other users' holds.

Mobile Library Rules

All items checked out on the MSU (MBKMOBILE) have a circ rule of 21-Day / two renewals. Other than the User's maximum charge limit (determined by Profile; usually 99), there are no limits on item type checkout quantities.

There are no exceptions to MSU rules.

Fine Free Checkouts

Teen, Juvenile, and other Youth items did not accrue fines if checked out after June 1, 2018. This was determined by Item Type. There were exceptions, like Kits, Backpacks, Passes, and Videogames.

All items became fine free July 1, 2022. All existing fines on patron accounts were removed at that time.