How are Short Loan books identifiable?

Short Loan books are labelled to identify them as part of the collection -by stickers on front cover - Short Loan and High Charges for Late Return 

 and at the Philip Robinson library have a yellow spine label which says Short Loan, at the Law Library it is orange and says Short Loan, at the Walton the spine label is pink without text on it. These differences help to avoid books being returned to the wrong library.

There will also be pencil marking inside the book - Short Loan, and there may be a Green return date label inside the book (not the usual white label)   

Where are the Short Loan books?

In the Philip Robinson,  the Walton and the Law Library, the books are housed in the small area next to the Library Help Desk. At the Philip Robinson and the Walton they can be found next to the Reservations for Collection and the Be Well Collection.  At the PRL this area also houses the Academic Skills books, and at the Walton it houses the Medicine in Literature and MCQ Collections. There is a self-issue machine within that area, which borrowers should use to issue their books. 

How long can I borrow a Short Loan book for?

The loan period for Short Loan books is until 4pm in 2 days time, regardless of the time of day when the book was issued, and that applies to all the days of the week. For example you borrow a book at 9am on the 19th, is is due back before 4pm on the 21st. If you borrow the book at 6pm on the 19th it is still due back before 4pm on the 21st. The loan category on Alma is "2 days" with 4pm as the return time. You can borrow a maximum of 3 Short Loan books at any one time.

What is the purpose of the Short Loan collection?

The purpose of the Short Loan collection is to allow students to access key texts that lecturers judge the students will need, when there are a limited number of copies of the item, and it is not available electronically.

What is in the Short Loan collection?

The Short Loan collection contains books, DVDs, and paper articles (extracts from journals or book chapters - if they can't be scanned due to copyright regulations). The PRL also has a box labelled "Solutions" which currently contains a selection of Masters from the School of Politics. Items are put into Short Loan when lecturers request it, and the use of the items in the collection is monitored by the Liaison team, who decide when items move in and out of the collection. The idea is that this is a small collection, which changes from semester to semester, based on demand. 

Can Short Loan books be requested? And are there charges if they are overdue?

Short Loan books can be requested in exactly the same way as Long Loan books, by logging into Library Search. When the books are overdue, there is an immediate charge of £1, and then another £1 per hour after that, up to a maximum of £15. These charges will apply regardless of whether the book has been requested by someone else or not.