Circulation Procedures
Valid forms of identification
The following forms of identification are required to check materials out of the Law Library and/or to use Reserve materials within the Law Library:
- All NIU students and faculty must present a current NIU ID card (OneCard).
- NIU alumni must fill out an alumni borrowing form prior to checking out materials. Upon approval, alumni will receive an "Authorized Borrower" card, which they will need to show whenever checking out materials from the Law Library. (Please note: this card is only valid at the Law Library, not at Founders Library or other NIU libraries.)
- CARLI affiliates must display a valid photo ID and must have a non-expired patron barcode in the CARLI I-Share patron database.
Circulating materials
- Items in the Circulating Collection may be checked out for 4 weeks to students and 16 weeks to faculty.
- Items in the Circulating Collection include most treatises and monographs, CD-ROMs that accompany treatises, Vertical File (pamphlet) materials, and most government documents.
Non-circulating materials
- Non-circulating materials include bound periodicals, reporters, digests, codes, indexes, some looseleaf services, form books, and microform materials.
- Non-law NIU faculty may check out bound periodicals for 3 days.
- Non-circulating materials must be used within the Library. However, non-circulating materials may be removed from the Library for use within the Law School building (including faculty offices or student activity offices) by making a request at the Circulation Desk. The materials may not be removed from the building and are subject to recall.
- The Library reserves the right to retrieve non-circulating materials that have been removed from the Library even in the absence of the borrower. If materials are not found in the designated locations, the borrower's privileges to remove non-circulating materials from the Library may be revoked.
Reserve materials
- All Reserve materials are kept at the Circulation Desk.
- Course Reserve materials may be requested by the name of the course, professor, and author/title of the item.
- Items identified in the online catalog as located in "Law Library Reserve" should be requested by call number.
- Reserve items circulate for either a 4-hour or one-day period.
- Four-hour reserve items include Course Reserve items, ASP study aids and outlines, examinations, audiovisual materials, IICLEs, current (unbound) periodicals, and other materials in high demand.
- One-day reserve items include the latest editions of West's "Hornbook" and "Nutshell" series, LexisNexis' "Understanding" series, and Aspen's "Examples & Explanations" series.
- During examination periods, the "Understanding" and "Examples & Explanations" series may be checked out for four hours only.
Renewals & recalls
- Books may be renewed in person or by telephone (815-753-0507).
- Books may also be renewed through the "My Account" feature in the I-SHARE online catalog. After logging in to "My Account", click in the "Renew?" check box beside the item and then click the "Renew Selected Items" button. To uncheck the " Renew?" check boxes, click the " Clear Selections" button.
- In some cases items cannot be renewed. They may have been requested by another patron, or the owning library may have set a limit on the number of times they can be renewed before they need to be returned. If you are renewing items online and see a "Not Renewed" message your item(s) could not be renewed and must be returned by the original due date (or, if past the due date, as soon as possible).
- Items may be recalled immediately if they are needed for Reserve use. Items may also be recalled if needed by another Library user.
Fines and other penalties
- With the exception of NIU faculty, fines will be imposed for overdue Library materials. For more information please see the Fines section of the "Policies" page.
- Patrons who abuse Library borrowing privileges may be blocked from borrowing books at the Law Library.
- All overdue fines, fees, and charges for the replacement of lost materials will be forwarded to the NIU Bursar's Office or Accounts Receivable. Failure to pay these charges may delay registration, sending of transcripts and proof of graduation.
Circulation to carrels ("Racking")
Some Library materials may be kept ("racked") on carrels for a period not to exceed a semester. Users are urged to "rack" materials only for the shortest time needed for research or study. (Please note that Library tables are only for short term use and may not be used for "saving" materials for research and study. Materials left on tables will be reshelved by Library staff.)
- The first step to racking materials is to choose a carrel. Each carrel is numbered (carrels 69-84 in the North Wing are reserved for law student organizations' use).
- Bring all items to be racked to the Circulation Desk. Fill out a Carrel Permit for each item. A copy of the Carrel Permit is kept in the item to be racked. The racking slip must be visible in each item taken to the carrel. Otherwise the item will be reshelved.
- Once an item has been racked to a carrel, under no circumstances is it to leave the carrel without notifying the Circulation Desk.
- All racked items are subject to recall by Library staff for purposes of Library maintenance or for the use of another patron. The person to whom the item is checked out will be notified if an item is being recalled. If an item is needed for Reserve or if it is in high demand, it will be taken from the carrel immediately and an explanation will be left in the carrel.
- When finished with each item, return it to the Circulation Desk with the Carrel Permit slip still in it.
- If you notice that a racked item is missing from your carrel, please notify the Circulation Desk immediately. Library staff will attempt to locate the missing item. However, as with any item checked out, the user is responsible for all racked items until they have been returned to the Circulation Desk.
- In general, the following materials cannot be racked to carrels:
- Citators
- Digests and encyclopedias
- Reference collection books
- Illinois Complied Statutes Annotated & legislative services
- Illinois Legislative Synopsis and Digest
- U.S.C.A., U.S.C.C.A.N. and supplementation
- Loose-leaf services (e.g., BNA, CCH and RIA)
- Copies of Reporters can be racked; however, copies from Storage should be racked instead of Stacks copies whenever possible.
