Circulation and Interlibrary Loan Policy

BORROWERS

  1. All residents of the Round Lake Area Public Library District and non-resident taxpayers shall be allowed to borrow materials as provided by statute. This privilege may be withdrawn for any infraction of library policies. 
  2. Identification and proof of library district residency will be required of all applicants. 
  3. Borrowers are responsible for all materials borrowed on their library card. If a card is lost or stolen, it is the patron's responsibility to report the loss.  
  4. The signature and identification of a parent or guardian accepting responsibility will be required for all children under 14 years of age.  Children may borrow any Round Lake Area Public Library materials. Parents or guardian will be responsible for all material checked out on minor’s library card. 
  5. Resident cards do not have an expiration date. If a patron moves out of the library district, the library card will no longer be valid. 
  6. We will issue no fee non-resident library cards to property owners or leasers in the Round Lake Area Public Library District who provide the library a tax bill with property owner’s names or rental agreement with lessee’s names pursuant to Public Act 100-0875:
    • Public Act 100-0875 impacting non-residents fees became effective on August 14.  The legislation that passed the Illinois General Assembly as SB 2488 amends the Illinois Local Library Act and the Public Library District Act of 1991, providing that a non-resident fee shall not be charged to a nonresident who owns or leases commercial (business) property that is taxed for library service. The statutory language removes the limitation of non-resident privileges for only one non-resident for each parcel of taxable property.
    • (75 ILCS 16/30-55.60) https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=007500160HArt%2E+30&ActID=993&ChapterID=16&SeqStart=7300000&SeqEnd=11500000
  7. Non-resident borrowers who live outside the district limits and do not qualify for a free library card may obtain a fee based library card from Round Lake Area Public Library if it is the nearest public library. The annual non-resident fee is determined by a formula in accordance with regulations of the Illinois State Library. 
  8. The Library also participates in reciprocal borrowing and will honor library cards issued to residents of any public library jurisdiction in Illinois.
  9. Businesses and governmental agencies located within the Round Lake Area Public Library District may contract for services with the Round Lake Area Public Library. Such business card holders will be eligible for all services normally available to residents of the district except reciprocal borrowing. 
  10. With the understanding that it will support existing consortium policy as well as provide a direct benefit to our Library by providing better control of our collection, the Round Lake Area Public Library will not reregister borrowers with delinquencies or outstanding obligations to other Illinois libraries until those obligations are resolved. 

 
BORROWING 

  1. Patrons may borrow up to 150 circulating items per library card except for collections with restrictions. In times of peak demand, restrictions may be made on certain types of materials. Policies regarding the loan or rental of equipment as adopted by the Board of Trustees shall apply. 
  2. The loan period for library materials is typically three weeks, two weeks, or one week, depending on the collection. Some collections may have varying loan periods. Exceptions may be considered by library staff. Most library materials, but not all, will be auto-renewed twice unless there are reserves on the material. Auto-renewals may not occur if there are issues on the patron account.  
  3. All Round Lake Area Public Library patrons should have their own valid library card or photo identification with them to check out materials. Reciprocal borrowers must present the library card issued from their home library. 
  4. Patrons may access their account online or through the automated phone system. Information about the account requested over the telephone will be restricted to the card holder or to the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of minors under the age of 14.  


INTERLIBRARY LOAN
 

Interlibrary loan service is available to all persons with a registered library card regardless of age, sex, religion, race, social, or economic status. Interlibrary loan requests will be considered confidential. Interlibrary loan requests will be handled following established guidelines and/or procedures. There is a maximum of 25 reserved/held items per account. Round Lake Area Public Library will follow protocols determined by Cooperative Computer Services (CCS), RAILS, and the ILLINET Interlibrary Loan Code. Fees will only be charged in accordance with policies adopted by the Board of Trustees (see Policy Section “Fees and Charges”). 


FEES AND CHARGES 

Round Lake Area Public Library does not charge fines for overdue items to any patrons who check out at our library, including patrons who visit from other libraries. 

The fine free policy only applies to overdue fines. Charges will still be issued for lost or damaged items, including any processing and collection service fees.   

Each item still has a due date, and patrons are still responsible for honoring the due date or renewing the item.   

Items checked out at other libraries are subject to the lending and fee policies of the checkout library; other non-fine free libraries may charge fines.     

  1. A patron’s borrowing privileges, including renewals and access to digital collections, will be suspended if: 
    • The account has accumulated unpaid library fees of $10.00 or more
    • Any library material is 2 weeks or more overdue 
    • The account has lost or damaged items 
    • Collection fees have been charged to the account 
  2. Once an overdue item is returned and the account meets borrowing privilege requirements, listed above, the block is removed from the borrower’s account provided there are no other outstanding fees or issues.  
  3. Patrons will be charged for lost library materials at library catalog replacement price plus a service charge to offset the processing costs. Patrons also have the option to replace the lost item with an exact edition brand new copy and processing fee. Circulation staff can provide exact procedures for this process. Charges for lost and damaged materials will be determined by the Library Director. 
  4. Refunds for lost items will be issued to patrons provided the item is returned to the library in good condition within 60 days of paying the replacement cost. Collection and processing fees, if charged, will not be refunded.   
  5. All materials that become more than 45 days overdue will be billed to the library card account and may be turned over to a collection agency. If the account is placed in collection there will be an additional fee added.  
  6. Processing fees for checks returned to the library for insufficient funds will be billed to the patron’s account.  The account may be suspended if fees exceed the borrowing limit. 


CONFIDENTIALITY
:   

Library records are for the sole purpose of protecting public property and are not to be used directly or indirectly to identify a patron or the types of materials used by individual library patrons. Under no circumstances shall library staff answer to a third party about what a patron of the library is reading or the kind of information asked for from the library's collection; that information is only available to the patron and, if the patron is under the age of 14, to the patron's parent(s) or legal guardian(s). 

(75 ILCS 70/) Library Records Confidentiality Act. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1004&ChapterID=16


LOAN PERIODS AND FEES
 

Check-Out Periods and Limits: 

1 Week 

  • DVDs/Blu-Rays 
  • Video Games 
  • Playaway Views 
  • Launchpads 

2 Weeks 

New Adult Fiction 

3 Weeks 

  • New Adult Non-Fiction 
  • All other books 
  • Magazines 
  • Audiobooks 
  • Playaways 
  • CDs 
  • CD-ROMs 

Items in the Library of Things collection have varying checkout periods depending on item.

Items marked with a HOT sticker are not holdable or renewable. 

You are limited to a total of 150 items on your card at any given time except for collections with restrictions.

Back to top