Policies

Download the Collection Development Policy

Black and White Printing
The Sister Mary Joseph Cunningham (SMJC) Library has four black-and-white printers that students, faculty, and staff may use for free; one located on the Main Floor in the reference area and three located on the Lower Level. These printers cannot be accessed via personal devices. Those wishing to print must log into one of the library computers in order to print a document. Please remember to select double-sided printing.

Color Printing
Projects that require color printing should be sent to the Circulation Desk (circulation@georgian.edu), where they can be printed for a fee of $0.25 per page. All editing must be completed by the student, including edits for formatting or content. Library staff will not edit documents for the requester.

Available paper sizes include 8.5×11, 8.5×14, and 11×17. No extra charge.

All current GCU students have library privileges. Your Student ID serves as your library card and is required to check out materials; it may only be used by the student to whom it was issued. Activate your card at the Circulation Desk. You may check out up to 30 items (5 leisure DVD limit) at any given time. Fines are charged for overdue items and will accrue until the item is returned or the maximum is met. Overdue fines for Reserves are $0.50 per hour or $2.00 per day. Interlibrary loan overdue book fines are $1.00 per day. Maximum charge for fines is $20.00.

• ++ Graduate students may check out circulating books (excluding IMC Juvenile and Leisure books) for the full semester.
• ** Interlibrary loan book due dates and renewals are assigned at the discretion of the lending library.
• You may place a hold to be the next borrower if an Item is checked out. A hold can be requested at the Circulation Desk or online through our library catalog. No holds or recalls may be placed on course reserve. Pick up items within seven days after notification.
• If an item is lost or damaged you will be charged a replacement cost and processing fee based on the type of item. Borrowing privileges will be suspended if you owe more than $5.00. Grades and transcripts may be withheld if you have overdue items and/or owe $10 or more. Patrons are responsible for all material borrowed on their card including lost and damaged items, including interlibrary loan items.

The Sister Mary Joseph Cunningham Library (SMJCL) has laptops available for lending to the GCU Community.

General Guidelines & Principles

• Laptops are available for short term checkout at the SMJC Library Circulation Desk to current students, faculty, and staff.
• Laptops are available on a first come, first served basis.

Period of Loan

• Loan Period: 3 Hours (renewable).
• Maximum Number of Renewals: 1 (if someone is waiting).
• Laptops cannot be checked out within 1 hour of the building closing.

• Exceptions can be made based on need and at the discretion of the Access Services Staff and Librarians, in consultation with the Director of Library Services.

Financial Responsibilities

• Lost or Stolen Laptop: $850. Lost and stolen laptops are reported to Campus Safety and The Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the user’s account is billed.
• Damaged Laptop: Damaged laptops will be sent to OIT. The full cost of repairs will be assessed by OIT (up to the value of the laptop of $850).
• Lost, Stolen, or Damaged Accessories:
  • PowerSupply:$60
  • LaptopBag:$25

Applications and Software

• Personal software may not be loaded onto the laptop at any time.
• Users must save work to a personal device, such as a flash drive.

Disclaimer

• The Library is not responsible for any viruses that may be transferred to or from the user’s account.

Your Campus ID serves as your library card and must be presented to borrow materials. The card may only be used by the person to whom it was issued; faculty members may arrange for a secretary or research assistant to use their cards in special circumstances.

Full-time Faculty: 40-item limit

Part-time Faculty, Administrators and Staff: 30-item limit

Non-circulating materials such as reference books, maps, Vital History cassettes, special collections, archives, bound periodicals, newspapers and microforms generally cannot be taken out. Replacement costs and processing fees will be charged for lost or damaged items.

Your alumni ID card obtained from the Office of Alumni and Donor Engagement (available at 732-987-2232) allows you to acquire a GCU library card at no charge. Valid identification showing your current address must be presented to register or renew your library card. It must be activated at the Circulation Desk before use and must be presented to borrow materials.

The library’s contracts with database vendors do not include remote access for alumni. New Jersey residents may obtain access to electronic resources through their local public library. Alumni can access our databases at the Library. Identify yourself to the librarian at the Reference Desk and you will be logged onto a reference computer if available. Current students have priority use of computers. A moderate amount  of printing (5-10 pages) is permitted, however alumni are encouraged to email or save their documents to a jump drive.

Library borrowing privileges expire one year from date of issuance but may be renewed. You will be responsible for any fines for overdue, damaged or lost items. Replacement cards are $5.00. Your card may only be used by the person to whom it was issued. For additional information, please call the Circulation Desk at 732-987-2419.

The Sister Mary Joseph Cunningham Library (SMJCL) provides academic reserve services for both print and electronic resources.

• Print reserves are hardcopy materials that are already owned or licensed by either the Library or the individual Faculty member and are available at the Circulation Desk.
• Electronic reserves (eReserves) are limited to materials that are not owned by the Library or the individual faculty member but are instead obtained for temporary use through Interlibrary Loan and made accessible within Blackboard.

General Guidelines & Principles

• Requests to have an item added to the Library’s academic reserves are processed in the order received and may take up to three (3) business days to process. Delays in processing time may occur during periods of high volume, like at the beginning of the semester.
• Hard copies of journal articles should be submitted on 8 ½ x 11 paper and be free from underlining, highlighting or notes.
• The library is not responsible for loss or damage to personal items placed on Academic Reserve.
• Unpublished works such as a student paper, for example, must include written consent from the author before it will be processed and made available.
• All academic reserve materials are removed and returned at the end of each semester.
• Unclaimed materials are not retained by the library.

Electronic Reserves
The Library’s eReserve service is limited to those resources that the Library does not currently own or license and can only be acquired through Interlibrary loan. Once received, the ILL team member uploads the item(s) to Blackboard on behalf of the Faculty member. They receive a watermark indicating the semester and year of use and are removed at the end of the semester.

However, if the item is already accessible electronically through one of the Library’s databases, for instance, the Library recommends that instructor choose one of the following three options (in this order):

Option One
The best practice for faculty to follow is to post only the bibliographic citation for the item—complete with Digital Object Identifier (DOI), if available, in Blackboard. This option negates all copyright concerns and provides an excellent opportunity for students to practice using the Library’s research tools and databases. This option may be better suited to upper division classes.

Option Two
A similar option includes posting the bibliographic citation for the item along with a permalink, or “permanent link.” A permalink is a more durable, longer-lasting link that takes students directly to the resource. Permalinks can be generated for most electronic resources but the methods vary across platforms. Faculty can reach out to their liaison librarian for assistance on how to generate permalinks for inclusion in their Blackboard courses. This option also negates all copyright concerns, but deprives students of a learning opportunity. This option may be better suited to lower division classes.

Option Three
A third option also exists, but requires additional effort on the part of the course instructor. An electronic copy (or copies) of an item currently owned or leased by the Library may be uploaded to Blackboard and still remain within the legal limits of copyright law. However, if this option is chosen, instructors must remember to remove anything that they uploaded at the end of each semester in order to remain well within the boundaries of both the law and our contractual obligations.

Lastly, if the Library owns the item in print format but an electronic version is needed for an online course or because access to the Library’s print collection is temporarily suspended, Faculty may contact the Access Services Department in the Library to request that a portion of the text be digitized and added to their eReserves in Blackboard. The Library reserves the right to decline requests that exceed fifteen (15) pages in length or potentially violate the Fair Use standard. Processing time for these requests may take up to five (5) business days depending on volume.

To submit a reserve request, click here.

The VALE Reciprocal Borrowing Program, is a cooperative onsite borrowing agreement among 47 participating VALE member colleges and universities. Under the agreement, faculty, staff and students from participating institutions who are in good standing at their home library qualify for onsite borrowing privileges at each other’s libraries. Faculty, staff, graduate students or undergraduate students must obtain a signed “VALE Reciprocal Borrowing Application Form,” from the circulation desk in order to borrow at one of the participating libraries. For more information visit the VALENJ website or contact the Circulation Desk.

The Sister Mary Joseph Cunningham Library (SMJCL) allows guests that have no affiliation with the university to use the library.

General Guidelines & Principles

• The SMJC Library’s primary mission is to support the GCU community.
• Guest’s that have no affiliation with the institution are able to use the library physical space as a study space and can browse the collection.
• Library Wifi and Computer access is available to GCU community members only.

Community Borrowing Privileges And Fees

• People 18 years of age and older who are not current students, faculty, staff, or alumni of Georgian Court University may have limited borrowing privileges for an annual fee of $100.00.
• Exempt from this fee are Sisters of Mercy not affiliated with Georgian Court University, as well as Catholic clergy, sisters, or deacons living or working within the Trenton Diocese.
• Annual fees are not refundable.
• Library cards are valid for one year from the date of issue.
• You may check out up to five circulating books and renew once.
• You will be responsible for any fines for overdue, damaged or lost items.
• There is a $5.00 charge for replacement cards.

Disclaimer

• The library reserves the right to suspend borrowing privileges for any patron who has fines or overdue books.

When librarians review documents submitted for Reserves they will be considering the four factors of Fair Use as provided by Copyright Law (Title 17, Section 107):

• Purpose of the Use
• Nature of the Work
• Amount of the Work
• Effect on the Market for the Original

The library will deny any reserve request it deems to exceed current fair-use standards.

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies of other reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. GCU has the right to refuse to accept a copying order if it believes fulfillment would involve violation of copyright law.

In order to ensure the best possible learning environment and instructional experience for students, Faculty who request an Information Literacy (IL) session are expected to adhere to the following Information Literacy program requirements:

The Faculty member will attend the session with their students, whether in-person or virtually. However, if they are unable to attend, the Librarian may reschedule, cancel, or proceed with the class at their own discretion.

• Rationale:
  • Students benefit from the combined knowledge of having both the Faculty member and the Librarian present for the duration of the session.
  • Students are typically more attentive and willing to participate when the course instructor is present and engaged.

The requesting Faculty member will schedule their class(es) with a Librarian as early as possible. Ideally, all requests for instruction will be made at least two weeks in advance.

• Rationale:
  • This affords the Librarian a reasonable amount of time to adjust their schedule if
    necessary and tailor the instruction to meet the specific needs of the class and its
    learners.
  • This also increases the likelihood that the Information Literacy classroom (the Sambol Room, located on the top floor of the SMJC Library) is available at the preferred date and time.

As a part of the Sister Mary Joseph Cunningham Library’s commitment to the information literacy education of Georgian Court University students, one example of classroom instruction, in-person or online (synchronous or asynchronous), will be offered to all EN111 sections.  This instruction is supplemented with online, self-paced information literacy tutorial modules and quizzes given to all GEN199 sections.  These are the building blocks of library information literacy instruction at GCU.

Additionally, on an as-needed basis, by request of the teaching faculty, and per liaison librarian availability only, upper-level course-specific information literacy instruction will be provided by that department’s liaison librarian.  This can include, 200- and 300-level courses, as well as senior seminars and graduate-level research instruction.  All students, at any level, are encouraged to use other instructional services, including in-person reference and research assistance, online chat service, reference consultation appointments, and reference email.