Borrowing - Dental Library - Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto

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Borrowing from the Dental Library

Library cards
Loan period
Fines
Renewals
Returns
Holds
"my.account"
Receiving notices via e-mail
Materials which cannot be borrowed

Please note that the policies and procedures outlined below are subject to change.

Library cards

Anyone with a valid University of Toronto library card, TCard, or Dental Library card is welcome to borrow items from the Dental Library. (It is not necessary to be affiliated with the Faculty of Dentistry.)

Here's how to obtain a library card:

Students:

Please see TCards and Photo Library Cards.

Faculty and staff (including part-time):

Please visit Human Resources at the Faculty of Dentistry (on the 3rd floor) to get a letter verifying your employment status. Then, bring this letter to the T-Card Office at the Robarts Library, 130 St. George St., Room 2054A.

Ontario Dentists, Alumni and Visitors

Please see Services for Ontario Dentists or go to UTL's page for Alumni and Visitors.

Loan period

Regular circulating books and journals can be borrowed for 7 days.

Reserve (short-term-loan) items can be taken out of the library at 12:30 p.m. or later, on a "first-come, first-served" basis. (For more details on how this works, please see Books on Reserve (Short Term Loan).

They must be returned by 9:30 a.m. the next day. (However, if they are borrowed on a Friday afternoon, they are due back the following Monday by 9:30 a.m..)

Fines

Regular circulating items (1-week loan):	50 cents per day per item
Reserve items (short-term loan):	50 cents per hour per item

Fines do not accrue while the library is closed (e.g., during weekends and holidays).

Borrowers who have unpaid fines of $25 or more (or who currently have 20 or more overdue items) are blocked from borrowing.

Please note that fine rates are subject to change.

Renewals

Please note that journals and reserve items (short-term loans) cannot be renewed.

Regular circulating books can be renewed up to three times, as long as no one else has placed a hold on the item. The maximum total loan period is four weeks (an initial one-week loan plus three one-week renewals).

Books can be renewed via the Web, by phone, or in person (it is not necessary to bring the book in).

To renew your books via the Web, please see "my.account".

To renew your books by telephone, please call 416-971-2400 to renew by touch-tone, 24 hours a day. Or, you may call (416) 979-4916, ext. 4560 when the Dental Library is open and speak to a Dental Library staff member. (It is not permitted to renew a book by leaving a voice mail message.)

Please note that when you renew, your due date is one week after the day on which you renew. So if your book is due on Thursday, and you renew it on the due date (Thursday), then your new due date will be the following Thursday. But if for example you renew it on Monday, three days in advance of the due date, then your new due date will be the following Monday, not the following Thursday. So, if you want to keep the book for as long as possible, you should wait until the due date to renew the book.

Returns

Return slot (inside the library)

When the Dental Library is open, please put items in the return slot built into the Desk (just inside the library).

Drop box (outside the library)

When the Dental Library is closed but the building is open (i.e., in the mornings prior to 9 a.m.)., please place books in the drop box located just outside the Dental Library, within the Faculty of Dentistry building. But please note that the drop box is not accessible when the building is closed (i.e., after 6 p.m. on weekdays, or anytime on weekends and holidays), unless you have a building access card.

Please do not leave items in the drop box when the library is open; please come into the library and leave them in the return slot built into the Desk. Thank you.

Returning Reserve Items (Short Term Loans)

Reserve items (short-term loans) must be returned directly to the Dental Library. If you are returning them early in the morning, before the library opens, please put them in the drop box (just outside the library doors, within the Faculty of Dentistry building). If you are returning them after the library opens (i.e., after 9 a.m.), please be sure to bring them into the library, and either put them in the return slot (built into the Desk) or hand them to the person staffing the Desk. (If you left them in the drop box outside the library after the library opens, we wouldn't find them until the next day, by which time you would have incurred a large fine.)

Returning One-Week-Loans Items

As a courtesy to other borrowers, if possible please return one-week-loan items directly to the Dental Library, since that way the book will not be delayed in transit from another U of T library. You are also welcome to drop them off at the UTM Library (Mississauga) or the UTSC Library (Scarborough). If it is impossible for you to return the items at a time when the Faculty of Dentistry building is open (i.e., on a weekday prior to 6 p.m.), then you may drop them off at another library on the St. George campus.

Holds

If a book or journal that you would like to borrow is currently on loan, you can place a hold on it. The current borrower will not be able to renew the item on which you've placed a hold. When the item is returned, we will telephone you, and we will hold the item for you (usually for up to a week).

More than one person may place a hold on the same item. When the item is returned it will be lent to the first person who placed a hold; then, when the first person returns it, it will be lent to the second person -- and so on.

There are three ways to place a hold:

In person, by coming to the Desk in the Dental Library (or a circulation desk in another U of T library).
By telephone, using the U of T Libraries "First Stop Telephone Service": (416) 978-8450.
Via the U of T Libraries online catalogue, by clicking the "Request" button next to a checked-out item (but please note that in this case your hold may not be placed immediately).

Please note that while we can tell you when the item is due back, we cannot tell you who has borrowed the item. All information about borrowers is confidential, to protect the privacy of library users.

"my.account"

You can use "my.account" to review your account via the Web (e.g., to see when your books are due or whether you owe any fines), and to renew your loans. You can change your PIN (initially you are assigned a PIN which is the last four digits of your student number or staff number, but you can change this to something more secret).

Please note that there is a convenient link to "my.account" from the Dental Library home page, under Quick Links.

Receiving notices via e-mail

Borrowers can opt to receive e-mail notices from U of T Libraries. For example, if you opt for this service you might receive a reminder that a book you borrowed will soon be due; a notice that a book is overdue; or notification that a book you requested has arrived.

(Please note that this service works with automated loans from the Dental Library -- i.e., items that are checked out to you by computer. It does not work with "manual" loans -- i.e., items such as unbound journal issues that are checked out to you by filling in a card.)

For more information about e-mail notices, or to opt for this service, please see Library Notices Via Email.

Materials which cannot be borrowed

The following items are noncirculating (i.e., they can be used in the library only):

items marked "reference"
rare books
vertical files

Last updated: September 9, 2009

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