Starting 1 October – at the beginning of the new semester – borrowing from our libraries will be easier: Instead of different loan periods, there will now be only two options–available for loan or not available for loan.
Borrow for four weeks–and just ignore the colors
For items available for loan, the standard loan period is four weeks (faculty and doctoral students may be subject to different rules). It can be renewed up to six times, provided the item has not been reserved by another person.
The previous option for one-week short-term loans is therefore no longer available: with a few exceptions, these items will now be part of the regular circulating collection.
or the loan period.
Things are also getting simpler when it comes to color-coded labels: The colors and color combinations on the labels attached to the books will no longer indicate whether an item can be checked out or the loan period. Whether white, green, blue, or with an additional red stripe–you can simply ignore these labels when checking out items.
You can see whether an item is available for loan or can only be used in the library by checking our catalogue and a special label on the item itself.
Not available for loan? It’s clearly marked
Most of our items are available for loan. However, some remain for use exclusively within the library–for example, when they need to be permanently available on-site.
We are gradually marking these items with a clearly visible yellow “Not for Loan” label. This replaces the red dots used previously.
Journals are an exception: As before, they are generally not available for loan and therefore do not have any additional labeling.
The new rule applies at all of our branches, with one exception: For internal reasons, the Libraries Law I and II will continue to offer short-term loans with a 7-day loan period for a while longer.