The Deerfield Public Library mission is to provide our community with open access to the world of information and ideas, encouraging lifelong learning and personal growth in a welcoming environment. Our circulation policies aim to facilitate the mission by outlining guidelines for patron registration and use of library collections.
II. REGISTRATION:A. Residents and property owners of incorporated Deerfield are taxed for library service on their real estate tax bills. A Deerfield Library Card can be obtained upon display of a valid government-issued photo identification card and proof of current address within incorporated Deerfield.
B. Residents of Riverwoods, Bannockburn, or unincorporated Deerfield are not taxed for this service, and may choose to purchase it. State law uses the high school district (District 113 for these areas) to determine the public library from which to obtain a library card. (Deerfield Public Library for most residents of these areas). Purchased card-holders are entitled to the same services as taxed card-holders.
1. The cost of library service for residents outside the boundaries of incorporated Deerfield is determined by the EAV (the equalized assessed value) multiplied by the current tax rate for library service for Deerfield taxpayers. The EAV of the resident's home and property is approximately 1/3 the real estate value. Residents of Riverwoods, Bannockburn or unincorporated Deerfield should present a current tax bill. A chart is available in the Circulation Department to determine the cost of library service.
2. Renewal of purchased library service By law, purchased cards expire each year and may be reissued in subsequent years. Purchased library cards show the expiration date on the back. Full privileges are given to all members in the household who are 5 years of age and older. Cards may be used at almost any area library.
3. Payment for purchased library service may be made in cash, by check or by credit card. Cards must be paid for in full at the time of purchase. Additional cards for family members in the same residence may be obtained at no additional charge.
All Juvenile patrons (under 18 years of age), may borrow Videos/DVDs and/or Video Game materials only when a signed parental permission release form is on file in the library.
This release form must be signed by the parent or legal guardian in person, in the library, for identity verification.
This release form allows Juvenile users to borrow any library Video/DVD and/or Video Game materials without review, restriction, or monitoring by library staff.
o Adult Feature Films on VHS or DVD (Limit 10 VHS/DVD items Total)
B. 7-day Loan- All New Fiction, including Mysteries (No Limit)
- Holiday and Special Collection Materials (Limit 2 Total)
- Adult Non-fiction Films on VHS or DVD (Limit 10 VHS/DVD items Total)
- Family Films on VHS or DVD (Limit 10 VHS/DVD items Total)
- Video Games (Limit 4 Total)
- Non-fiction Books (5 per subject area)*
- All other books (No Limit)
- Music CDs (Limit 10 Total)
- Audio Books on Cassette or CD (Limit 10 Total)
- Playaway Audio Books (Limit 4 Total)
*Teachers may be granted special-use exceptions by the appropriate Department Head
D. 6-week Vacation Loan (available upon request) – reverts to 21-day loan period if renewed- Regular Print Books (upon request) (No Limit)
- Vacation paperbacks (No Limit)
- Book group collection (No Limit)
- Music CDs (Limit 10 Total)
- Audio Books on Cassette or CD (Limit 10 Total)
- Playaway Audio Books (Limit 4 Total)
All loan periods, fees, and fines apply equally to Deerfield Public Library card-holders and to Reciprocal Borrowers.
All items (with the exception of Videos, DVDs, Video Games, and Playaway Audio Books) may be renewed twice if not on reserve or under special loan limits. Overdue items may be renewed provided they are not on reserve or under special loan limits. In the case of renewal of overdue materials, fines will be assigned to the borrower's library card account.
A. Reserves may be placed in person at any service desk, by telephone, or by accessing the Library Catalog over the Internet with a valid library card. Reserves may be placed on any item except Video Games and Feature or Family DVDs.
B. Other “on shelf” or desk holdsCirculation Desk holds are available for no longer than 48 hours in the event that a patron is unable to check out desired materials and wishes to return within the next 24-48 hours to retrieve and check out the materials. The status of items will be changed to “Circ Hold” in this situation.
DVD's will not be held at the circulation desk. The Multimedia Department will hold DVDs at the Multimedia service desk for up to one hour at a patron's request. Inquiries about the status (i.e. checked out, on shelf, etc.) of materials in the library's collections should be directed to the service desk responsible for that collection.
- Books
- Music CDs
- Audio books on Cassette, CD, or Playaway
- Video on VHS or DVD
- Video Game
Deerfield Public Library reserves the right to restrict borrowing privileges if fines accumulate in excess of $10 per patron card.
The Library does not charge for the use of any materials for any borrowers. See Interlibrary Loan section for fees charged by other libraries for items obtained for Deerfield library cardholders.
A borrower has up to 3 months to search for misplaced items before being required to pay replacement costs. Fees may be paid before the end of the three-month period; however NO REFUNDS WILL BE GRANTED FOR FOUND ITEMS. The Library does not accept donations of like items in lieu of payment. As regulated by state statute, all damaged and withdrawn materials remain the property of the library.
Patrons will be charged for lost items and pieces. In addition, a processing fee will be charged for library staff time spent ordering and processing the replaced item.
Representative Replacement Fees for Damaged or Lost Deerfield Public Library Materials:- Processing fees for all items declared lost $5.00
- Single audio book cassette or CD $10.00
- Individual Barcode $1.00
- Video/DVD Case $5.00
- Cassette/CD Case $3.00
- Playaway Battery Cover $3.00
- CD/DVD Program Booklet $5.00
- Video Game Instruction Booklet $5.00
- Juvenile Magazine Folder $5.00
- Juvenile Zipper Kit Bag $10.00
- Print books, audio books, other sound recordings, videos/DVDs: Replacement cost + variable processing fees of not more than $5.00 per item
The Deerfield Public Library understands that books and media experience normal wear and tear as they are used. The Library balances normal wear and tear against damages that might make the public reluctant to use the material. Usability is one consideration; appearance is another. These guidelines cover any material that the library checks out to the public.
Fees for damaged materials will be charged when the condition of an item makes it unsuitable to be returned to the collection.
A. Normal wear and tear or minor damage is to be expected as items circulate. This includes:
- Book falling from spine, loose spine or loose pages
- Frayed edges
- Tears on spine channel
- AV bags or plastic cassette pouch replacement
- CD, DVD, video, or cassette case replacement
- Magazine back cover or insert missing
- Torn plastic covers
- Missing barcodes or labels
- Paper dust jacket torn/marked/missing
- Plastic jackets torn/marked/missing
- Pocket torn/marked/missing
- Occasional torn page
B. Examples of major damage that require withdrawal of materials:
- Animal teeth or claw marks
- Liquid damage
- Pages stuck together
- Extensive marking/comments
- Pages marked/burned/missing
- Swollen/mildewed/odoriferous
C. Examples of items that would be withdrawn if parts cannot be replaced:
- Books that are missing accompanying cassette, CD, or DVD when those items cannot be replaced. In this case a new item must be purchased, even though the remaining parts are not damaged.
- CDs or DVDs that are missing accompanying instruction or informational booklets when those items cannot be replaced. Booklets are needed to maintain the value to the item.
In general, the Library does not accept donations of like items in lieu of purchased replacements. Any request to do so must be cleared by the librarian in charge of the collection.
- A patron must have a current, valid Deerfield Public Library card with no charges over $10.00 on the card.
- The Deerfield card-holder may make the request in person, by email, or by telephone.
- The Library can only accept requests to be activated immediately. Responsibility for placing Interlibrary Loan requests to be activated in the future belongs with a patron.
- Delivery dates for Interlibrary Loans cannot be guaranteed. Although Deerfield Public Library suggests a lead time of at least two weeks, the lending library may not deliver the requested item within that time frame. The Library will request the patron to provide a “cancel-after” date after which the item is no longer wanted, in the event that an item cannot arrive within an acceptable time frame.
- A patron is responsible for checking out his or her Interlibrary Loan item in a timely fashion. Two attempts will be made via calls or e-mail messages to notify a patron that an Interlibrary Loan item has arrived at the Library. In the event that a patron does not have access to telephone or e-mail message delivery, he or she should check with the Library in person at least once per week to check on the status of a requested Interlibrary Loan item. If two notifications have been made without response from the patron, the Interlibrary Loan item will be returned to the lending library and a $1.00 fine will be placed on the patron's record.
- No more than five Interlibrary Loan requests may be in process for the same patron at one time.
- Interlibrary Loan requests will not be made for…
o Items the Library owns. A patron may reserve an item owned by the library. (Exceptions will be made for an item that meets all Interlibrary Loan parameters but is being mended or is overdue for longer than one month.)
o Items in a format we do not ourselves own (Example: computer software).
o New items (items the lending library has owned for less than six months). The Library will offer Consider for Purchase requests for items in this category.
o Multiple copies of the same title for the same person.
- Interlibrary Loan requests usually will be placed for videos, audio books, and other sound recordings only within the North Suburban Library System.
- A patron must be at least eighteen years of age to request a video or DVD on Interlibrary Loan, unless he or she has a parental permission slip on file.
- Interlibrary Loan requests for a particular title will be made no more than two times within a twelve-month period for a patron.
- If the lending library charges for an Interlibrary Loan item, a requesting patron will be notified and asked to pay the fee in advance of completing the request. The Library will pay any postage fees.
- Renewal policies depend upon the lending library. Deerfield Public Library will renew Interlibrary Loan books for one week unless the lending library has a “no-renewal” policy. Videos and DVDs cannot be renewed.
- For titles with a cover date within the last five years, Interlibrary Loan requests per twelve-month period for any patron are limited to one article per issue of a particular periodical title.
- For titles with a cover date within the past five years, Interlibrary Loan requests within a twelve-month period are limited to a combined total of five articles from a particular periodical title for all Deerfield Public Library patrons.
- In the event that a patron needs more than one article from a particular periodical, Deerfield Public Library will attempt to locate a library that owns the periodical so the patron may go to there to photocopy the articles personally. Public libraries and most academic libraries welcome patrons. Most special and corporate libraries do not extend this service to outside patrons.
- A patron placing a request for a photocopied item supplied by another library will be asked at the time of the request the limit the patron is willing to pay. The amount of the limit will be noted on the request form. The Library will pay any postage fees.
- Any Interlibrary Loan fees (Example: photocopying or item-specific fees) charged to Deerfield Public Library will be passed along to the requesting patron.
- Charge for Interlibrary Loan items not picked up $1.00
- Overdue books, audio books, or other sound recordings $0.50/day
- Overdue videos/DVDs $2.00/day
- Maximum fine on overdue books, audio books or other sound recordings $10.00
- Maximum fine on videos/DVDs $20.00
- Charge on any lost or damaged item Lending library will determine fees
Deerfield Public Library will…
- Lend print books anywhere within the United States
- Lend audio books, other sound recordings, and videos or DVDs only within the State of Illinois.
- Not charge borrowing libraries for Interlibrary Loans. The borrowing library will pay postage or other delivery charges for the return of an item. Deerfield Public Library will pay the postage to send an item.
- Lend books, audio books, and other sound recordings for four weeks. An item with no reserve on it may be renewed for one period of up to one week.
- Lend videos and DVDs for 10 days. No renewals will be granted for videos or DVDs.
- Photocopy articles of up to 30 pages at no charge if a borrowing library supplies a photocopy request form.
- Photocopy up to 10 pages from microfilm at no charge if a borrowing library supplies a photocopy request form.
- Honor telephone requests for direct loans of items from borrowing libraries; however faxed requests are preferred.
- Respond to requests made by electronic methods, fax, mail, or telephone.
- Charge for damaged to an item on a case by case basis. The full replacement cost may be charged for badly damaged items.
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Not lend new (generally, those not less than six months old) books, DVDs, videos, audio books, or other sound recordings. Items in high demand within the Library's population, regardless of how long it has been owned by the library, may also be restricted from Interlibrary Loan.