Circulation Policy
To check items out from the library, bring them to the desk
along with your card.
(If you do not have your library card with you, you can show photo ID,
such as a driver's license, and we can look you up based on that.)
A library employee will check your items out to you. In order to
check out items, your account must not have more than $10
in outstanding
fines and fees.
Most items circulate for a period of two weeks
and may be renewed up to three times provided there is not a hold
(reserve) on the item. Certain items have special rules, covered below.
If your item can be renewed on the due date,
the system will automatically renew it for you. There are some
cases where this may not happen, e.g., if there is a hold that has
not been filled yet at the moment the system tries to renew,
then the automatic renewal will not happen even if the hold is
later filled by another copy of the same item, making your copy
renewable. In such cases, you can call the library to renew,
or
renew the item online.
Overdue Items
Items returned in the
book drop overnight count as having
come back the previous evening, even if they come back after midnight.
Once we open in the morning, the next day starts.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are quarantining all
returned items for several days, then back-dating the checkins to
compensate so that no overdue fines are charged for the quarantine days.
This is a special situation during the pandemic and will not be the usual
rule once things get back to normal
.
One-Week Items
Videos, whether DVD or Blu-Ray,
as well as videogames and equipment (e.g., the telescope)
and activity kits and board games, circulate for one week,
except for new releases, which go out for just three days.
Please return your movies when you are done with them,
so that someone else can have a chance to check them out.
You may have up to 5 video items checked out at a time; up to two
of them may be new releases.
(A single case with a single library barcode on it counts as one item,
even if the case contains multiple movies on multiple discs.)
Electronic Materials
Electronic books, audiobooks, and other materials available through the
Ohio Digital Library
may also be checked out using your Galion Public Library card. These
items follow their own circulation rules and limits and automatically
return themselves when their loan period expires. See the
Ohio Digital Library
for details.
Interlibrary Loans
Items from other libraries within
our consortium
work the same as local items from here.
Items that are
on loan
from another library outside our consortium
usually can
not be renewed.
Please return interlibrary loan items on time so that they can
be shipped back to the lending library.
You definitely cannot renew them online
using our web catalog, because there is another library system involved.
In some cases the staff may be able to renew them for you,
but this is not guaranteed, as it depends on the other library's
policies, transit time, and other factors.
Audio Materials
Audio books circulate just like regular books.
There is a limit of five Music CDs that you may
have checked out at any given time, but they check out for two weeks
and may be renewed up to three times, like books.
Magazines
There is a limit of ten magazine
back-issues that you may have checked out at any given time, but they go out for
two weeks and may be renewed up to three times, like books.
Equipment and Activity Kits
Non-Circulating Items
The following items
may not be checked out, but
may be used within the library: reference books (including those
kept on the atlas stand and behind the desk), newspapers, the most
recent issue of each magazine, microfilm, most equipment (e.g.,
computers, furniture, microfilm reader, etc.), and some of
the local history items in the Ohio Room.
Renewing
If you need to renew your items, you may do it in person at
the desk, by phone (419-468-3203), or using the
web catalog.
(To renew using the web catalog you will need your
library card number and password to log in.)
Most materials may be renewed up to three times, unless someone has
placed a hold on the item, in which case it cannot be renewed,
because someone is waiting for it.
In some cases, the system may
automatically renew items for
you when the due date is reached, but this is not guaranteed.
Placing a Hold (Reserve)
If something you want is unavailable because someone else has it
checked out, you can
place a hold on the item, and we'll save it
for you and contact you when your turn comes up. Holds may be placed
at the desk, by phone, or on the
web catalog.
(To place holds on the web catalog you will need your library card number and password.)
We Don't Have It?
If the library does not have a specific
book that you want to read, there are two ways we may be able to get it for you
from another library.
This is usually the fastest way for us to get a book for you if
we don't have a copy, unless the book is rare or was published
within the last few months.
Non-book items, such as movies and television seasons, are
often available as well.
(Caveat: most of the libraries in the group
we get our loans from are public libraries; there are few or no
academic libraries in the group, so we tend to have difficulty
obtaining items of a highly academic nature, such as doctoral
dissertations and scholarly journals. For those kinds of items,
you may need to check with a college library.)
If there is a new book (recently
published) that you want to check out, and we don't have it,
you should ask a library employee to see whether we have it
on order, and if not to write up a purchase request.
This usually takes longer than interlibrary loan, but very
popular new items (recent bestsellers) can actually arrive
faster this way, than waiting for a copy to be available
from another library.
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