Inter-library Loan Policy

Inter-library loan service is available to any resident of West Boylston whose membership record is in good standing. Inter-library loan services may be denied to patrons with a history of overdue transactions.

• Four inter-library loan requests will be submitted to lending sources at one time.
• Patrons will pay copy charges for magazine articles at the rate of 10 cents per page.
• Patrons wishing to request more costly articles must indicate they will assume the costs of such requests. Patrons wishing to submit inter-library loan requests which may or will incur charges from the lending library, will be expected to assume such costs. Patrons may indicate a maximum fee they are willing to pay for such requests
• Inter-library loan requests will not be accepted on high-demand items, or titles that are 6 months or newer.
• Fines of $1.00 per day may be assessed on all overdue inter-library loan items.
• Patrons wishing to retrieve inter-library loans items directly from a lending agency must confer with the librarian at Beaman Library, obtain an American Library Association request form and agree to return the item to this library.
• Delivery dates on inter-library loan items cannot be guaranteed. Patrons are encouraged to indicate the last date the item would be of use on their request form.
• Patrons are responsible for using inter-library loan items in accordance with established copyright laws.

Reciprocal Borrowing Policy

The Board of Trustees of the Beaman Memorial Public Library chooses to deny borrowing privileges to residents of those communities who have chosen to underfund or cause a disproportionate budget cut so that their library no longer meets the minimum standards set by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and are denied certification by them.

The rationale of this policy by the Board is that municipalities that allow de-certification of the libraries by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners are not able to take part in the reciprocal borrowing agreement. The notion of "statewide lending" in Massachusetts (which is governed by both statute and regulation) is based on reciprocity, or the ability of residents of one community to borrow materials from the library of another community, and vice versa. If one community does not support its library, the reciprocal relationship between those communities no longer exists. The result is that one community would be paying to operate its library for the benefit of residents of another community that does not do the same.

Furthermore, it is virtually impossible to spread limited resources of staff, materials and service hours to meet the needs of another community which chooses not to assume the financial obligation for their library. The residents of the Town of West Boylston provide financial support to build and maintain the services and collection of this library. It is only fair that they enjoy the optimum benefits of that support.

Borrowing privileges will be immediately restored when a library has been re-certified by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners or receives waiver of such certification.