Loans

The loaning of documents entails the opportunity of consulting documents outside the installations of the Library.

Who is eligible to borrow library materials?

Students, researchers, faculty members and staff of the University of Minho are all eligible to borrow library materials. Individuals not associated to the University of Minho may have access to the resources of the library, by submitting a request for a library card.

What can be borrowed?

Almost all materials housed in the libraries may be borrowed with the exception of periodicals (magazines, journals, newspapers, bulletins), reference works (dictionaries, encyclopaedias), audiovisual material (cds, videos) and the publications stored in the Special Collections Library (BRE, BREG).

How to borrow material?

User must pick up the item(s) from the shelf, approach the attendance desk and present the library user card to proceed with the loaning process. The user is presented with a loan slip, baring the information of the item and the due date for returning the borrowed item. Any user that marks, damages, loses or refuses to return an item will be responsible for its replacement, so we permanently alert users to carefully verify the physical condition of the document before borrowing. After verifying the information on the loan slip, user is asked to sign it (the original is kept by the library and the user is presented with a copy).

How long can users borrow material for?

The loan period varies between 3, 7 and 14/30/60 days, according to the status of the publication and type of user.

Renewing Books

The renewal request of publications can be made until the last day of term loan, in person or by phone at the reception desk of the libraries of the University of Minho, via Internet (in the library catalogue) using your user number and password (until 23h00), or via email at the address bibliotecas@usdb.uminho.pt. Requests by email, if made in the last day of term loan, will only be satisfied if sent during the opening hours of libraries and may only be considered effective upon receipt of the reply message USDB.

The right to the renewal is lost, when the deadline delivery date expires, if the library requires the document to satisfy other request or if you reach the limit of six renewals.

Reservations

Users have the possibility of reserving items that are out on loan. A reservation may be made at the circulation desk or online via the Web OPAC (library catalgue). Upon placing the reservation, the item will be recalled and the borrower will have to return it. When the requested item has been returned and became available for the user to borrow, he/she will be notified by e-mail. User has 24 hours to collect the item within the library, if he/she doesn't, the reservation will be canceled.
Users can hold up to 3 reservation simultaneously.

Penalizations

Penalizations are applied to items not returned in the due date.

- Late returns up until 15 days : the user is temporarily suspended of all his library privileges, until the payment of the monetary penalization. The amount of the monetary penalization is € 0.50 per working day anda per item.

- Upon the 16th day, beside the fine referred above, user sees his library privileges suspended for a period of 15 days.

- Upon the 30th day, beside the fine referred above, user sees his library privileges suspended for a period of 1 month.