Passport Agreement

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AGREEMENT FOR PROGRAM OF RECIPROCAL BORROWING PRIVILEGES FOR FACULTY, EMERITUS FACULTY, STUDENTS AND STAFF OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF NEW MEXICO CONSORTIUM OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

THE AGREEMENT

The libraries of the New Mexico Consortium of Academic Libraries (NMCAL), have adopted a common goal to promote and facilitate scholarly research and communication among their faculty, staff, and students. To realize this goal, NMCAL libraries will extend borrowing privileges to faculty, emeritus faculty, staff, and students so that they may have direct personal access to scholarly materials not available on their home campus. The following convenants are intended to accomplish this goal.

NOTE: Several points should be emphasized before the convenants of this agreement are set forth:

• The convenants are intended to be minimums. Any NMCAL institution is free to extend or expand the privileges it wishes to offer, but it should not do so in the expectation that other institutions will do likewise.
  
  
• This agreement is not intended to supplant other agreements between or among institutions, nor is it intended to be the only agreement of its kind between institutions of like interest and common concern.
  
  
• This agreement should in no way be interpreted as conferring rights on any borrower. The agreement is for privileges that may be revoked at any time by the borrower’s home institution or withheld for cause by the lending institution.

I. SCOPE

A. The libraries to which this agreement applies are the libraries which sign this agreement.

II. PRIVILEGES

Faculty, emeritus faculty, students, and staff members may, with proper identification, use the collections of participating libraries, which own the materials on the premises or take them to their home campus.

III. RESPONSIBILITES OF THE BORROWER

The borrower must agree to:

A. Present identification as required by this agreement to obtain a library PASSPORT certificate.

B. Observe the regulations of the lending library.

C. Return materials in person or by mail within the loan period prescribed by the lending library.

D. Return materials immediately, by priority mail, when recalled by the lending library.

E. Pay fines or other charges incurred as the result of late return, damage, or loss of materials.

F. Recognize that abuses of borrowing privileges will lead to loss of such privileges.

G. At the lending library, present a Passport Certificate, plus institutional or picture ID.

IV. RESPONSIBILITES OF LIBRARIES

The NMCAL participating libraries’ responsibilities include:

A. Participating libraries will provide a written policy statement including pertinent circulation polices, to be included in a program handbook/directory made available to all participating libraries.

B. Home libraries will issue a Library PASSPORT certificate only if the borrower is in good standing at the home library.

C. Both lending library and home library will employ all available and appropriate means to recover material or charges for lost items from the borrower. To protect themselves, libraries may limit the number of books, which may be checked out by the persons covered under this agreement.

D. Should a patron fail to return item or pay charges, the home library will assist the lending library by contacting the borrower and placing an institutional hold on borrower's record until item is returned or replacement cost is paid.

E. Each library will maintain statistics of:

     1. The number of PASSPORTS issued.

     2. The institutions for which they are issued.

     3. The number received from other institutions.

V. IDENTIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE BORROWERS

Identification of borrowers eligible for privileges under this agreement will be the Library PASSPORT Certificate accompanied by current, valid institutional ID, and/or picture ID.

VI. LIAISON AND PROBLEM RESOLUTION

Each institution will appoint one person as liaison for the reciprocal-borrowing program. Duties of the liaison include:

     1. Making available copies of the program’s handbook/directory;

     2. Insuring that written policy statements are available for all participating libraries;

     3. Maintaining a supply of Library PASSPORTS Certificates;

     4. Administrating the program at the home library;

     5. Notifying other libraries of delinquent borrowers; problems or issues of an
     individual nature should be resolved between library directors. Participating libraries
     should be notified of liaison changes and name of new liaison provided.

VII. REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT

All lending libraries will retain Library PASSPORT Certificates received and issued. These certificates will be issued to compile statistics at the end of the fiscal year, supplied upon request to the chair of the Resource Sharing Committee.

Each year NMCAL directors will discuss the program and may recommend changes.

I give my permission to post the name of our library’s contact person, phone, email address, mailing address, and our library’s circulation policies on the NMCAL Web Page.

Signature of Library Dean or Director ________________________________

Library Name __________________________________________________

Date _______________

Effective September 2004