The loan process
Most of the media in the Main Library can be borrowed home. In the course of 2022, several of our departmental libraries also introduced a lending service with the same lending conditions as in the Main Library.
To borrow items, you require a library card. There are special lending conditions for JMU academics and employees.
Borrowing media from the Main Library reading room
Most books and other items in the Main Library (not including journals and newspapers) are available for loan and can be taken away. To see whether a book is available for loan, check the catalogue.
Use the shelf mark to find the item you need and take it to the self-service machines (on the ground floor, on level 1 and 2) for issuing.
Tip: The shelf mark indicates the book’s location and appears both in the catalogue and on the book.
Borrowing requested and reserved items
Some of our items are not freely available. These items can be requested via the catalogue. Items currently on loan can be reserved via the catalogue.
For home lending
The media are available for you to collect for one week from the yellow collection shelves in the Main Reading Room on the first floor. Media ordered via interlibrary loan, which you may borrow at home, are available for collection there for a fortnight.
Tip: Pick up the media quickly, as the loan period begins when they are made available.
For use in the reading room
Items that require particular protection (e.g. old collections) cannot be borrowed; they can only be used in the Main Reading Room or in the Special Collections Reading Room.
These items are already booked as loans to your library account. They will be available for you in the red collection shelves in the Main Reading Room 1 until the loan period ends.
Ordered media, which you may only use in the Special Collections Reading Room, can be obtained at the reading room counter on the 3rd floor. Please note that you are not allowed to take bags and jackets there.
Some of our departmental libraries offer a lending service with the same lending conditions as in the Main Library.
Current status:
- Circulation in the Wittelsbacherplatz Departmental Library has been running since 01.02.2022.
- On 25.04.2022, lending started in the Departmental Library for English, Germanic and Romance Language & Literatures (TB AGR), the Departmental Library for Cultural, Historical and Earth Sciences (TB KGG) and the Departmental Library for Business Management and Economics (TBW) .
- Since 12.07.2022 the lending in the Departmental Library for Psychology is running.
- On 25.10.2022, the lending service began in the Departmental Library for Theology.
- In the Departmental Library ZOM | ZIM the lending began on 03.04.2024.
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In the Departmental Library for Mathematics lending serice started on 14.05.2024.
- In the Departmental Library for Law, the textbook collection (shelf mark beginning with "80/") can be borrowed. Since May 28, 2024, most media with the signature beginning "250/" can also be borrowed there.
Borrowing media from the reading room of the departmental library
Most of the books and other media in the departmental library (but not magazines and newspapers) can be borrowed for home use. You can see whether a book is available for loan or not in the catalogue. To do this, set the "Branch for reservations and orders" to the desired departmental library in the search screen of the catalogue.
You can find the desired title with the help of the shelf mark and borrow it at the circulation desk of the departmental library.
Tip: The shelf mark indicates the book’s location and appears both in the catalogue and on the book.
In the case of items that cannot be borrowed, a short loan is possible in individual cases.
Borrowing requested and reserved items
You can reserve items that are currently on loan via the catalogue. In some departmental libraries, some items are not freely accessible. You can order these items via the catalogue. In both cases, you must first set the "Branch for reservations and orders" to the desired departmental library in the search screen of the catalogue.
For home lending
The media are available for you to collect from the circulation desk of the departmental library for one week.
Tip: Pick up the media quickly, as the loan period begins when they are made available.
For use in the reading room of the Main Library
Media requiring special protection (e.g. old stock) from the holdings of the Departmental Library which are not freely accessible cannot be borrowed after ordering, but can only be used in the Main Reading Room or the Special Collections Reading Room of the Main Library.
These items are already booked as loans to your library account. They will be available for you at the circulation desk on the ground floor of the Main Library until the end of the loan period.
Ordered media, which you may only use in the Special Collections Reading Room, can be obtained at the counter in the Special Collections Reading Room (3rd floor). Please note that you are not allowed to take bags and jackets there.
In some of our departmental libraries you can only use the collections on site. This applies especially to the library locations with smaller collections. However, loans are also possible here in exceptional cases.
These limited borrowing possibilities are laid down in the framework guidelines for the use of the departmental libraries (PDF, 187 KB).
Further information can be found on the homepages of the individual departmental libraries.
