Extend Textbook Check-out Time

If possible, please extend the check-out time of reserve books to 2&1/2 or 3 hours for all the books, or at least the science ones. Two hours is often not enough time to digest the material and work on the problems. Also, the reserve books should be available to be checked out overnight by the time the library closes. Imposing a very high fee for overdue can reduce the potential problem of overdue.

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Thank you for your suggestions about the libraries Reserve Collection. These books have a limited check out period of 2 hours to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to use them. A longer check out period would mean many students would not have a chance to use these books. In the past, the library did check out Reserve items overnight with high overdue fees, but this did not deter students from returning the books late -- and sometimes not even at all. This caused a lot of frustration for many students who expected books to be available first thing in the morning or at least a reasonable time thereafter. Since the Library has limited funds, it needs to ensure that the few textbooks it does purchase are readily available to as many students as possible. So as it stands, it is important for students to understand that the Library's textbooks are intended as a "back-up" and not the primary source for required textbooks. I hope this answers your questions. We appreciate your concern and are open to additional suggestions.

Eric Hanson, Librarian