When you find an item in the Library Catalog, included with the campus is a designation such as circulating, reference, or reserves.
What do these terms mean?
- Circulating items are materials that can be borrowed from the library and taken home for a specific length of time. Circulating materials are kept on accessible shelves, and can be browsed easily. Circulating books can be borrowed for three weeks, while DVDs can be borrowed for one week. You can renew circulating library items once.
- Reference items are materials that are kept into the library as a ready source of information. Reference materials include dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, and atlases. Reference materials are generally grouped away from circulating items but are still easy for patrons to browse. Reference materials cannot be checked out of the library.
- Reserves items are materials, mostly textbooks and electronics, available for short term use. Most reserve items, but not all, are designed to be used on campus for a short block of time. The borrowing period for each reserve item is different, but library staff will always tell you where you can use a reserve item and when it is due back to the library.