Access Services Policies

• Borrowing and recall privileges begin on the first day of class, and end the day before the next semester’s first day of class.
• Maximum of 35 items at a time
• 28-day checkout of normal circulating materials
• 28-day checkout of Reference materials
• 1-week checkout of journals/periodicals
• Renewals: 4 weeks, or the last date of the semester (whichever is earlier) for normally circulating materials.
  • Special item types with shorter loan periods (e.g., board games) may have shorter renewals or no renewals (see Policies by Collection below).
• Not enrolled for summer? Refer to the Summer Access Policy.
• ✅ Online renewal
• ✅ Hold and recall privileges
• ✅ Interlibrary loan privileges
• ✅ Access to electronic resources
• ✅ Option to request free TexShare card for use at other participating institutions
• ✅ SHSU-authenticated wi-fi

Graduate students may also borrow the following - see details in the tabbed box below.

✅ Tabletop games

✅ Campus Cupboard equipment

✅ IMC textbooks

✅ Reference books

✅ Periodicals (journal/magazines)

Fines, Fees, and Account Blocks

• Fines/fees will be charged for overdue, damaged, or lost materials.
• Library and other SHSU privileges may be restricted for overdue, damaged, or lost material, whether SHSU or interlibrary loan materials.

• Remote users may request books owned by SHSU to be mailed to their home address. Books must be returned by the due date via UPS or insured mail. Learn more about Distance Learning Services.
• Other regular borrowing privileges and restrictions apply according to classification (undergraduate or graduate).

• Borrowing and recall privileges begin the first day of employment with SHSU
• Maximum of 75 items at a time (Academic Policy Statement 840606)
• Semester-long checkout of normal circulating materials
• 28-day checkout of Reference materials
• 1-week checkout of journals/periodicals
• Renewals: One semester for normally circulating materials.
  • Special item types with shorter loan periods (e.g., board games) may have shorter renewals or no renewals (see Policies by Collection below).
• ✅ Online renewal
• ✅ Hold and recall privileges
• ✅ Interlibrary loan privileges
• ✅ Access to electronic resources
• ✅ Option to request free TexShare card for use at other participating institutions
• ✅ SHSU-authenticated wi-fi

Faculty and staff may also borrow the following - see details in the tabbed box below.

✅ Tabletop games

✅ Campus Cupboard equipment

✅ IMC textbooks

✅ Reference books

✅ Periodicals (journal/magazines)

Fines, Fees, and Account Blocks

• Faculty/staff do not accrue normal overdue fines for SHSU materials (including games), but are responsible for fines/fees for overdue recalled items, overdue interlibrary loan items, and damaged or lost items.
• SHSU borrowing privileges may be restricted for overdue, damaged, or lost interlibrary loan materials.

Retirees essentially retain the same privileges as Faculty/Staff, with a few exceptions:

❌ No home delivery of Interlibrary Loan items

❌ No fees paid by the library for Interlibrary Loan; user will need to pay fees if charged by the lending library

Institutions participating in the TexShare program include public libraries, community colleges, colleges, and universities, public and private.  Non-SHSU-affiliated users may leverage this program at the SHSU library by following these steps:

• Request a free TexShare card from a participating library where they are a member.
• Present their TexShare card at the SHSU library.
• Complete an incoming TexShare application.
• Present the TexShare card from home library, and a photo ID at the Service Desk.
• Read the Library’s TexShare circulation policies.

Basic privileges at SHSU of incoming TexShare card holders:

• 28-day checkout for TexShare Students/General Users
• Semester checkout for TexShare Faculty
• At the time of application, one book may be checked out
• Maximum of 10 items at a time after application processing
• Renewals: 4 weeks, or the last date of the semester (whichever is earlier) for normally circulating materials.
  • Special item types with shorter loan periods (e.g., board games) may have shorter renewals or no renewals (see Policies by Collection below).
• ✅ Online renewal
• ❌ No hold or recall privileges
• ❌ No interlibrary loan privileges
• ❌ No access to electronic resources
• ❌ No access to computers
• ✅ Guest wi-fi

TexShare users may also borrow the following - see details in the tabbed box below.

✅ Tabletop games

✅ Campus Cupboard equipment, excluding laptops

✅ IMC textbooks

❌ Reference books

✅ Periodicals (journal/magazines)

Fines, Fees, and Account Blocks

• Fines/fees will be charged for overdue, damaged, or lost materials.
• Library privileges may be restricted for overdue, damaged, or lost material.

Visitors may apply and pay ($20) for a Courtesy Card at the Library Service Desk. Review the Courtesy Card eligibility policy.

• 14-day checkout
• Maximum of 10 items at a time
• Renewals: 4 weeks, or the last date of the semester (whichever is earlier) for normally circulating materials.
  • Special item types with shorter loan periods (e.g., board games) may have shorter renewals or no renewals (see Policies by Collection below).
• ✅ Online renewal
• ❌ No hold or recall privileges
• ❌ No interlibrary loan privileges
• ❌ No access to electronic resources
• ✅ Guest wi-fi

Courtesy Card users may also borrow the following - see details in the tabbed box below.

✅ Tabletop games

✅ Campus Cupboard equipment, excluding laptops

✅ IMC textbooks

❌ Reference books

✅ Periodicals (journal/magazines)

Fines, Fees, and Account Blocks

• Fines/fees will be charged for overdue, damaged, or lost materials.
• Library privileges may be restricted for overdue, damaged, or lost material.

Book Drops

• Only books should be returned in book drops.
• DO NOT place the following in book drops:
  • Interlibrary loan materials
  • Reserves materials
  • Material that is damaged or appears fragile
  • Oversized or unusual materials such as board games
• Book drop locations:
  • Outside on the patio at the Northeast corner of the Library, near the steps coming up from the parking lot (1st floor entrance).
  • On the wall at the front of the Library next to the main entrance (2nd floor entrance).
  • Inside the Library at the front of the Library Service Desk (2nd floor lobby).
• Book drops are emptied regularly throughout the day. Books that are returned after the Library has closed will be checked in early the next business day, with a return date of the previous business day.

Reserves

Reserve materials and board games must be returned to the Library Service Desk.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

ILL materials should be returned to the ILL Office or the Copy Room. DO NOT return ILL materials to the SHSU library book drops; you will be financially responsible for any damage to ILL materials placed in book drops.

SHSU-The Woodlands Center

Any materials, both regular loans and ILL, may also be returned to the library services desk in the computer lab (room 315) at SHSU-The Woodlands Center, Monday-Friday, 8a-5p.

Returning by Mail

You may mail materials (both regular loans and ILL) back to the library via USPS library book rate with tracking using the address below. (Please write "Campus Box", NOT PO Box)

Interlibrary Services
Newton Gresham Library
Sam Houston State University
Campus Box 2179
Huntsville, TX 77341

• If you wish to request a book (whether on the shelf or currently checked out), you may visit the Library's catalog for books, media, and more to place a hold or have it recalled from another user.

• You will be contacted when the book is available for you to check out. Hold items can be picked up at the library’s first-floor Help Desk during the library’s hours of operation.
• All material is subject to recall after a patron has had an item for 14 days.
• Note that TexShare Card and Courtesy Card holders do not have hold/recall privileges.

Fines and Billing

• If not returned within 5 days, recalled materials become overdue and accrue a fine of $1.00 per day per book to a maximum fine of $25.00.
• At 14 days overdue, recalled material will be considered lost and the patron will be billed for replacement cost and administrative processing fees.

The Instructional Materials Collection (IMC) includes some of the textbooks that have been adopted in K-12 schools in Texas.

• 7 days
• 🔘 Renewals allowed but limited to 3 (max of 4 weeks use)

For students, Textbooks accrue overdue fines at the rate of "Reserve material with daily checkout" (see the Overdue Fines information).

Reference materials (including those in the main collection and the Music Listening Room)

• 28 days by faculty/staff and graduate students
• ✅ Renewals allowed

All other relevant circulation policies apply to these materials.

• One week by all users
• ❌ No renewals

If a periodical is barcoded, it will be checked out online according to standard procedures. If a periodical is not barcoded, checkout will be manually recorded in the Faculty Periodical Checkout folder by the personnel at the Library Service Desk.

All other relevant circulation policies apply to these materials.

• ✅ Books: Checkout permitted at staff counter inside Music Listening Room
• 🔘 Audiovisual materials: Checkout permitted for faculty/staff; in-room use only for students

Return to any book drop along with other library books.

• ✅ In-house use; request assistance at the Copy Services window on the 1st floor
• ❌ No check-out (except through Interlibrary Loan)

  ↵

• ✅ In-house use; request assistance in the Thomason Room
• ❌ No check-out

• Many materials housed in Closed Stacks can circulate
• Must be retrieved by library personnel
  • Inquire at the Library Service Desk about retrieval of items whose location is indicated as "Closed Stacks."
• Reference, Periodicals, or Special Collections materials in Closed Stacks are subject to the regular circulation policies for those collections.

• Borrowed in person from the Library Service Desk.
• Checkout times are specified by the faculty member.
• Most items are in-building use only for 2 hours, though some items may have a longer loan period (ranging from 4 hours to 7 days).
• Only 3 reserve items may be checked out at one time.
• ❌ No renewal

Reserve materials must be returned to the main Library Service Desk, not placed in book drops.

Faculty Requests

SHSU instructors may submit requests with the Print Reserves Request Form

For more information on the use of copyrighted works, refer to these related policies.

Electronic reserves are accessed online only by authorized SHSU accounts enrolled in a given course.

Faculty Requests

SHSU instructors may request or renew electronic reserves:

• E-Reserves Request Form
• Renew My E-Reserves form

Faculty requests for materials to be placed on electronic reserve will be vetted by library personnel with respect to copyright, fair use, and licensing considerations.

For more information on the use of copyrighted works, refer to these related policies.

The Library Service Desk lends a variety of equipment, ranging from laptops, web cams, graphing calculators, photography light boxes, audio-recording equipment, and much more. See details and photos about all equipment available in NGL's Campus Cupboard.

• ❌ No reservations
• ❌ No renewals
• Must be returned to the main Library Service Desk, not book drops.

Most items are same-day checkout, in-building use only, due ten minutes before closing on the day of checkout. Exceptions:

• Calculators have a three-day loan period (can leave the building), due ten minutes before closing on the third day. See a list of available calculators and user guides.
• Audio recording equipment, has a two-week loan period (can leave the building).

If an item is damaged during use, depending on the severity of the damage, the library reserves the right to bill the patron for a damage fee to offset the cost of book repairs (generally $10) or a replacement fee. If a patron believes that the damage pre-existed their use, they may discuss their concerns with personnel at the Library Services Desk.

If an item is known to be damaged (for example, after billing a damage fee, or detected during checkout), library personnel will note the known damage inside the book so that it will not be held against the next borrower.

When a patron receives a notice that they have not returned a book...

• The library will search for the book at least three times.
• If the library finds the book on the shelf in the first search, staff will remove it from the patron's record and waive the fines for that book.
• If the library finds the book on the shelf after the first search, the fine will be calculated from the date due to the date found.
• If the library doesn't find the book, the patron will be charged a replacement charge plus a $15.00 processing fee and any overdue fines accrued.

When a patron is charged for a lost book:

• Replacement charges are generally based on an industry-published list based on the item's Library of Congress call number.
• The patron may be able to find a replacement copy that is less expensive than the replacement charge.
• The patron may provide a replacement copy meeting these criteria:
  • SAME ISBN, title, edition, and publication date;
  • clean; good condition; no stains, tears, writing, or library labels/stamps
• If the replacement copy is accepted
  • The library will delete the replacement charge and processing fee from the patron's account.
  • The patron will still owe any overdue fines.
• A replacement copy will not be accepted after a patron has already paid the replacement charge for an item.

If a patron finds a lost book...

SHSU Students, Faculty, and Staff

• Bill notices will be sent to your SHSU email account.
• For questions about why a bill has accrued, please contact the Service Desk at : 936-294-1618 or library@shsu.edu.
• Bills under $10 are payable at the Library Service Desk by cash, check, debit, or credit. Appropriate identification (Bearkat OneCard, driver's license, state ID card, etc.) should accompany debit or credit cards.
• Bills $10 and up will be billed at the university Cashier's Office and may be paid online via MySam.
• If you prefer to pay a bill under $10 online, please contact the library to have the bill entered: 936-294-1618 or library@shsu.edu.
• While a bill of $10 and up remains unpaid, your library account will be restricted, and you will not be able to borrow materials.
  • Once you have been billed at the Cashier's Office, the bill may also restrict you from other actions on campus, such as receiving an official transcript or completing graduation. Please contact the Cashier's Office for more information about restrictions on campus accounts or how to pay bills online.

TexShare and Courtesy Card Users

• Bill notices will be sent to the email address on your account.
  • If email communication fails, a bill may be mailed to your street address.
• For questions about why a bill has accrued, please contact the Service Desk at : 936-294-1618 or library@shsu.edu.
• Bills are payable at the Library Service Desk by cash, check, debit, or credit. Appropriate identification (driver's license, state ID card, etc.) should accompany debit or credit cards.
• While a bill remains unpaid, your library account will be restricted, and you will not be able to borrow materials.