Circulation

General Collection
Material from the general collection will be loaned to faculty, staff, and students of Harvard. Borrowing items from categories of materials that do not ordinarily circulate is subject to approval by library staff; contact the library at mayrlib@oeb.harvard.edu or ask at the Reference Desk for details or with inquiries about specific items. An ID card is required for all circulation transactions.
 
Several categories of materials do not circulate:

- Any volume (journal or book) over 100 years old
- Journals, regardless of date
- Items from the Reference collection
- Items from Special Collections
- Any volume that is boxed, enclosed, damaged, or fragile
- Oversized volumes

Renewals, Recalls, and Fines
Beginning on April 1, 2017, all Harvard-ID-holding faculty, staff, and students will enjoy semester loans on regular loan items. Items that are checked out may be renewed five times, either by the patron online through their account in HOLLIS or by library staff at the patron’s request. Extended loans may be granted upon request with approval by library staff. Standard overdue fines are discontinued as of April 1, 2017. Recalled items are due 7 business days after a recall notice has been sent; after that period, fines accrue at the rate of $3.00 per day, up to a maximum of $45 per recalled item. The charge for a lost item is the cost of a replacement, plus $35.00 for processing.

Course Reserves
Items that have been placed on reserve for a course are kept at the Circulation Desk. The borrowing period for reserve materials is 2 hours. Reserve materials may be taken out overnight one hour before closing and are due back the following day one hour after opening (those taken out on Saturday are due back on Monday by 10:00 am). There is a fine of $0.02 per minute for overdue course reserve materials.