Circulation Services
270-745-3951

A valid WKU identification card (Big Red Card or Friends of the Library card) is required to check out ANY library materials.

Student Borrowers

The loan period for most circulating library materials is four weeks for students. Audiovisual materials circulate for seven days. Renewals must either be in person, at the main library or the Educational Resources Center, or online at TOPCAT. There are no telephone renewals. Items on hold or recall may not be renewed.

Faculty and Staff

The loan period for most library materials is one semester. Leisure books circulate for four weeks and audiovisual materials for one week. Each semester a notice is sent to faculty and staff listing all books that are charged out and overdue. Faculty and staff may renew by mail by indicating on the notice which items should be renewed. However, no renewals will be allowed if there are recalled items outstanding on the patron record.

Friends of the Library

"Friends" may borrow circulating library materials for four weeks, audiovisual materials for one week.

To become a "Friend," you may contact the WKU Libraries Development Officer, Carrie Barnett, at the WKU Libraries' Development Office at 745-7056
1888-958-2586.

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Fines are $.05 per day per item, up to a maximum of $6.00 per item. Patrons are not required to pay fines until the total accumulates to $5.00 or more. Once the fines total reaches $5.00, the patron is blocked from registering for classes, adding/dropping classes, receiving a diploma, or sending a transcript until the fines are paid. The charge for a lost book is the replacement price of the book plus a $35.00 processing fee.

Fines for overdue reserve materials are $.25 per hour or $.75 per day per item.

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Students, faculty, and staff may fill out a request card at the Circulation Desk for an item not found on the shelf to be searched, or for an item charged to another patron be held upon its return to the library. Once the item is retrieved it is held at the circulation desk for one week, and the patron is notified by a mailed notice or by telephone.

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All library materials are subject to recall for use by another patron. If an item is recalled, please return it to the library as soon as possible. You may request a counter-hold on the item, so that when the recalling patron has returned the item it will be held for you. Friends of the libraries do not have recall privileges.

If you fail to return a recalled item, your library borrowing privileges will be blocked automatically by the circulation system and you will be billed for the replacement cost of the book, plus a $35.00 processing fee.

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Copies of articles or books for use by an entire class may be placed on reserve at the Visual and Performing Arts Library (VPAL) on the second floor of the Cravens building, the Educational Resources Center, or at the Glasgow Regional Center Library.

Class reserves are listed under the instructor's name in three-ring binders in the VPAL. Most file copy reserve materials are "Room Use" only and may not be removed from the library. Some reserves may be checked out after 6:00 p.m. for overnight use. Instructors may also designate a three-day or seven-day loan period. Fines for overdue reserves are $.25 per hour or $.75 per day per item.

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The library has laptops available for checkout by faculty and students at the Circulation Desk on the 4th floor of Cravens. They check out for a maximum of three hours* and do not leave the library. They have access to the wireless network in the library as well as floppy disk and DVD drives and lots of software. There is a form to be filled out before checking out a laptop, and an instruction sheet/map of the wireless coverage area is provided. Overdue fines are $0.10 per minute.

*Laptops checked out within four hours of closing are always due back one hour before the library closes.

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