Use of storage facility

  1. WRLC members share the cost of operating the offsite storage facility through the annual member fees, which cover the cost of building utilities and maintenance,and staff to perform retrieval and delivery of requested items. There is no additional charge to member libraries for storage, retrieval, or delivery of library materials. Library materials ("ALADIN items") are those items which are described in the shared online catalog (the CATS database in ALADIN) AND are available for use by patrons of other WRLC libraries.

  2. Member institutions pay the costs of accessioning items into the storage facility (sorting, shelving, adding the actual shelf location to the ALADIN record). These are one-time costs for each volume or item.

  3. Use of the storage facility is "first-come, first-served". There is no upper limit or minimum quota for individual member libraries using the offsite storage facility.
  1. Each library may use its own criteria to select materials for WRLC storage. The goal is to free campus library space as determined by each institution.

  2. There is no prohibition against storing duplicate materials at WRLC (at this time).

  3. To qualify for "free" storage, items must have bibliographic and holdings records in ALADIN (CATS) which adhere to the then-current policy on ALADIN Data Base Standards for Bibliographic and Holdings Data. Archival and special collections materials may be represented by a finding aid in CATS. Libraries which store uncataloged materials or materials which are not available for use by other WRLC libraries will pay for such storage on a cost-recovery basis (See "Storage of Nonlibrary items").

Retrieval and circulation of stored materials

  1. The owning library determines the circulation category of its individual stored items. Three circulation categories have been defined for stored library materials:
    1. Circulating: Items which may be charged to patrons and removed from the requesting library or the WRLC facility.
    2. Onsite use: Items which must be used at the requesting library or at the WRLC facility.
    3. Restricted: Items which must be used onsite at the owning library (such as special collections or archive materials).

  2. Circulation policies for all circulating items are as follows:
    1. The loan period for circulating items will be 8 weeks for all patron categories.
    2. Overdue fines will not be charged for circulating items.

  3. Eligible borrowers from any WRLC member institution may use stored materials from any other WRLC member library in accordance with the circulation policies described above.

  4. WRLC will charge and deliver circulating items to the requesting library, for subsequent charge to the patron. Items will not be routed first through the owning library, in cases where the requester is not the owner.

  5. WRLC will accept retrieval requests by any of the following mechanisms:Each request must contain sufficient information to identify the specific stored item (not just the desired title), so that WRLC may determine the correct shelf location.

  6. Requests received at WRLC by 5:00 pm will be delivered to the requesting library by WRLC courier the following business day.

  7. WRLC will photocopy and fax individual journal articles upon request. The delivery mechanism will be at the option of the requesting library: telefacsimile, hard copy (by WRLC courier) or ARIEL.

  8. Nonmember libraries wishing to borrow stored items should make a request to the owning library via normal ILL request channels. The owning library will then forward the retrieval request to WRLC, which will retrieve and deliver the item to the owning library's ILL unit.WRLC will respond directly to ILL requests from outside the consortium at such time as the volume of such requests merits setting up the necessary systems (e.g. WRLC connection to OCLC ILL subsystem).

Onsite use of stored materials at the WRLC facility

  1. Patrons must present an ID valid for direct borrowing of items from WRLC member libraries.

  2. Items retrieved for eligible patrons will be charged to the patron. Items designated as "onsite use" must be used at the WRLC facility. Items designated as "circulating" may be removed from the WRLC facility once they have been charged to the patron. Such items may be returned or renewed at any member library or at the WRLC facility.

  3. Items designated as "restricted use" may not be used onsite at the WRLC facility. These items must be requested through the owning library and used onsite at the owning library.
  1. Patrons are encouraged to make an appointment when visiting the WRLC facility to use materials onsite. Appointments may be made directly by contacting WRLC's Library Services Assistant, or via staff at a WRLC member library.While every effort will be made to assist patrons who arrive at WRLC during business hours without an appointment, WRLC cannot retrieve materials for patrons at times when no qualified staff member is available.

  2. Business hours for onsite use of materials at the WRLC facility are 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.

Storage of nonlibrary items

  1. Other departments of WRLC member institutions outside the main library may store materials at the WRLC facility on a space-available cost-recovery basis. Such materials might include university records, art works, special materials related to faculty or departmental grants, or materials belonging to the law or medical libraries.

  2. Direct costs would be recovered through charges for:
  1. Individual arrangements would need to be made for inventory control and delivery, depending on the requirements. Costs of these services would be determined and negotiated with the individual department according to the specific circumstances.

  2. These materials will not be interfiled on the same shelf with ALADIN items and will not be included in the ALADIN system.

Storage of nonmember materials

  1. Organizations that are not members of WRLC might wish to store library or other materials at the WRLC facility.WRLC would provide offsite storage services to nonmembers if space is available. Such arrangements would be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and approved explicitly by the WRLC Board of Directors. Note: No new materials from non-member libraries are being accepted effective February 1, 2002, due to space limitations.

  2. Any revenues generated by offsite storage services to nonmembers would be used to defray the costs of WRLC services to member institutions.
  3. Nonmember materials will not be interfiled on the same shelf with ALADIN items and will not be included in the ALADIN system.