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. Holds are not allowed on Mobile Library owned items Holds are allowed on MSU items as of May 2025.
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, Vision aid magnifier) | 21 | ||
| J-3DOBJECT | 1 | Non-Traditional Items (Stuffed Animals) | 7 | No longer any age restriction[1] | |
| 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 Chargers, BB Projector items) | End of the day | In-Building Circ only. The patron is billed replacement costs if not returned by the end of the following day.[2] These are holdable, but only by patrons of that branch | ||
| GAMECART | Gaming Carts | 1 hour | In-Building Circ only. These are holdable, but only by patrons of that branch | ||
| GAMEDEVICE | 1 | Handheld gaming devices (Playaways; Nintendo DS3) | 7 | ||
| HOTSPOT | 1 | Wifi Hotspots | 14 | ||
| ILL | 3 | Inter-Library Loans | 21 | No | Per Policy 204, patrons are to have no bills and no overdue items when requesting ILLs. Use Special Due Date tool to match due date listed on the ILL bookstrip.[3] |
| KIT | (Science Resource Hubs, Invasive Vine Removal tools) | 21 | |||
| J-KIT | Juvenile Kit (Tough Subject backpacks; Library Connection kits; Early Literacy Curriculum kits) | 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 (Science Museum of Western VA, Wonder Universe) | 7 | No | ||
| TELESCOPE | 1 | 7 | No | Juvenile Cards can not check out this item type[4] | |
| VIDEOGAME | 4 | Video Game cartridges for gaming consoles | 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[5], 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[6].
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.
References
- ↑ 3DOBJECT (J- and regular) were set up to be adult only (no Juvenile card checkout allowed). This directive was later reverted. See Sarah Pahl emails RE: Stuffed animals for checkout, November 7, 2017; RE: Editing of Item TOY at circ desk, Mon February 11, 2019.
- ↑ This is done by IT manually running a WF Template report; no notice is sent
- ↑ 2023 Interlibrary Loan.pdf in Circulation section of Employee Manual.
- ↑ Per Paula Alston email FW: Telescope Rules, Wed 12/21/2016 10:47 AM
- ↑ Institutions don't get special privileges on HOTSPOT items; per Management Meeting, Tue February 11, 2020.
- ↑ Per Karim Khan email RE: More Rules! (MSU), Wed 6/30/2021 8:51 AM