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Loans and Renewals

You are welcome to borrow books from any of our campus libraries.  When you look at titles on Onesearch you can see where copies are located. To request a copy from a different campus, to pick up at your normal campus, see the Request section below.

Checking your loans

You can check the items you have on loan and when they are due back from the 'My Account' section of OneSearch. 

For more information on borrowing, renewing, requesting and returning items, please see below: 

  • Loans - what can be borrowed and for how long

    Your borrower number

    Your library borrower number is the number under the barcode on your Cumbria Card. This may be the same as your student number.

     

    How many items can I borrow?

    Books, AV material and Teaching Practice Resources can all be borrowed as part of the borrowing entitlement. Journals are reference only and cannot be borrowed. At any one time you can have on loan the following number of items: 

      Lending Collection Teaching Practice Laptops AV equipment
    Students 20 30 1 5
    Staff and research students 20 30 1 5
    Community borrowers, including  reciprocal, sanctuary or access schemes 4 4 0 0

     

    How long can I borrow items for?

    Your book loans will auto renew every two weeks until the end of your course unless they are requested by someone else. We will send you an email letting you which book needs to be returned so please check your student email regularly. You can check the date your loans are due for return using the 'My Account' section of OneSearch.

     

    Lending collection
         		 2 weeks

    Teaching Practice collection

    		 2 weeks

    Dissertations

    		 Until close
    AV equipment 1 day
    1 week

    Laptops

    		 3 hours

    Interlibrary loans

    		 Set manually as instructed by British Library

  • Loans – how to borrow an item

     

    How to borrow items

    • Make sure you have your Cumbria card and PIN ready - see below if you have forgotten either
    • Take your items to one of the self-service kiosks and follow the on-screen instructions
    • It is important that you wait until the process is complete before removing items from the kiosk, i.e. all the items are issued to you and security de-activated (text turns green on completion) otherwise you may set off the security alarms
    • If all the items are not read immediately move them around so the signal can be read
    • You can choose to have a printed receipt or an emailed receipt, both of which will list what you have borrowed and when it is due back, or you can choose to have no receipt
    		 Borrowing - self-issue kiosk,

    Forgotten your library card?

     

    • If you don't have your card you can enter your library number using the keypad option on the kiosk screen. You will also need your library PIN

    • You can reset your pin from OneSearch, the library catalogue, by following these steps:

    1. Sign in to OneSearch

    2. Go to my account

    3. Go to personal details

    4. Click on 'update pin' choose a new pin and click 'save' 

    		 PIN,  

     

  • Renewals

    Renewals

    Books, teaching practice items and AV items will be renewed automatically every two weeks unless they have been requested by another borrower.

    It is important to check the due dates. Any items which have been requested by another borrower will not renew automatically. If they are not returned by the due date you will be fined. 

    • an item will not be renewed if someone else has requested it
    • fines will be charged if an item has been requested by another borrower and is not returned by the due date
    • if you are away from the university and one of your books has been requested by another borrower you can send it back to us in the post to Harold Bridges Library, University of Cumbria, Bowerham Road, Lancaster, LA1 3JD.
    • If you post an item back, please either get a certificate of posting from your post office or return it using a 'signed for' service.

     

  • Requests

    You are welcome to borrow books from any of our campus libraries. If you want a book that is at another campus you can place a request as follows

    • find the book on OneSearch. Click on the title and then on 'Request'. Select your pickup location or 'home delivery' if you are registered for postal loans
    • if you have registered for postal loans and selected home delivery the book will be posted out to you
    • if you are collecting from a library we will send you an email to let you know that your books are ready 
    • please remember to bring your Cumbria card in order to use the self-service kiosks
    • books coming from another campus may not be ready to collect for 1-2 weeks
    • please email library@cumbria.ac.uk if you have any questions

    All items borrowed from the library can be recalled if they are requested by someone else and should be returned as soon as possible. If they are not returned by their due date you will be fined £1 per item per day.

    Overdue reminders on requested items

    • we will send you reminders of items on loan and the dates they are due back. Please note the Library is not responsible if you fail to receive them, for example you fail to check your university emails or if your inbox is full. You will still be liable for any fines incurred
    • if a recalled item is not returned by the due date it will incur fines of £1 per day
    • if a recalled item has not been returned 14 days after the due date you will be charged for the replacement of the item plus a £5 administration charge 

  • Returns - how to return an item

    How to return books

    You can return your books at any of the campus libraries using our self-service kiosks

     

    If the library is closed there are book return boxes at:

    • Ambleside - outside on the right hand side of the Barn library
    • Brampton Road - next to the door nearest to the accommodation blocks
    • Fusehill Street - in the Learning Gateway (this is swipe access so you will need your Cumbria card to get in)
    • Lancaster - in the entrance area to the left of the lift
    • London - next to the main entrance door. If the main gate is closed you will need to get into the courtyard by going through the hostel

     

    You can return books by post to:

    Harold Bridges Library
    University of Cumbria
    Bowerham Road
    Lancaster
    LA1 3JD

    		 Borrowing - self-issue kiosk,

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Fines

    Why do you charge fines?

    We only charge fines on overdue recalled items, or for replacements of lost or damaged items. This is to keep library stock circulating fairly and make items available to other users. 

    How can I avoid paying fines?

    - Keep track of when items are due back using the 'My Account' section of OneSearch

    - If you receive an email to let you know that one of your items has been recalled (requested by another user), please return it to the library as soon as you can, and before the due date. 

    How can I pay fines?

    You can pay overdue fines £1 and over by credit or debit card through the online store. Please check the amount of fines to pay by logging into OneSearch. You can then manually enter the amount that you are paying in the online store.

    You can also pay the replacement fee for lost or damaged items through the online store, Lost or Damaged Items £50 per item.

  • Placement students

    While you are on placement your books will renew automatically. If another student requests one of the books that you have out and you are not able to get it back to a campus library please contact us on library@cumbria.ac.uk

    Remember you can access ebooks and ejournals while on placement.

     

    Handy checklist

    • Check for details of library services, eg hospital and other university libraries, that you could use while on placement – ask at the library desk.
    • Check you have no outstanding fines.
    • You can continue to use the library eresources
    • Remember to check your University email account regularly while you are on placement as we will send you an email if one of your books is requested by another borrower.

    Please get in touch with your campus library if you need help and advice while you are on placement. If you are having problems with the eresources or have a subject enquiry, please get in touch with skills@cumbria.ac.uk.

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