Circulation Services

Library Online Catalogs

Beeghly Library Catalog

The Library's online catalog provides access to Beeghly Library's holdings, the holdings of 21 Ohio private academic libraries (OPAL) and to OhioLINK, the statewide academic library consortium.

Borrowing Privileges

Students, Faculty and Staff

Those associated with the college may borrow materials upon presentation of a current Heidelberg College ID card. These are available in the Student Affairs Office on the second floor of the Campus Center. Patrons need to register their ID number with the library in order to check out items, order from OPAL and OhioLINK or use the databases.

Guest Patrons

Library cards are available for $1.00 to adult area residents with proper identification. High school and junior high school students may obtain a borrower's card with parental approval. Guest patrons may borrow up to 5 items at a time. All materials are subject to a 24-hour recall if needed by someone in the Heidelberg community. Guest patrons may use the library computers only to do research using the library catalog, research databases, and government resources. Children must be accompanied by an adult when using the library.

Loan Period and Overdue Fines

Most items may be checked out for 21 days. Videos circulate for 7 days with no renewal. Other items such as reference books and journals must be used within the library. Circulating items may be renewed up to 4 times if no holds have been placed on them.

Fines are 50 cents per day per item up to $15.00. There is a 7 day grace period. Fines for items returned after that period will start from the day the item was due. Materials that are not returned within 30 days after the due date are considered lost and the patron will be charged a replacement fee of up to $125.00. This fine is reduced if the item is returned. A fine of $10.00 or more on a patron's record will block them from borrowing or requesting items from OPAL/OhioLINK.

All fines, including those for OPAL and OhioLINK items, may be paid in the library. Unpaid fines for overdue or lost items on student, faculty or staff patron records are sent to the Business Office at the end of each semester. Guest patrons who violate library policies will lose their borrowing privileges.

Renewals

You may renew an item or items by selecting View My Library Account under "Finding Books Using Library Catalogs" on the Beeghly Library webpage. Renewals can be made within 7 days of the item being due. Renewals made after the item is overdue will have the amount of the fine added to their patron record. Each item may be renewed up to four times as long as there are no holds on it.

Placing Holds

When an item is out on loan to another patron, it is possible to place a hold on it. At the catalog entry for the title choose "OPAL Request" and fill in the specified information.

Periodicals

Beeghly Library's magazine, journal and newspaper holdings are listed alphabetically in the print Periodical List in the library. These items can also be found by searching individual periodical titles in the Beeghly Library Catalog. The most recent issues of periodicals are located in the racks on the first floor, and the back issues are kept alphabetically by title on the 2nd floor. The print copies of the magazines, journals and newspapers may not be taken out of the library. Photocopiers and a microform scanner printer are available for making copies.

Many journal titles are available online through the research databases. Use the Electronic Journal Finder to locate periodicals that include online full-text articles. Heidelberg students and faculty can request otherwise unavailable articles through Interlibrary Loan. Please contact a reference librarian for more information.

Course Reserve Materials

Reserve materials include library books, personal copies of books, recordings, sample exams, videos, and electronic copies, known as e-reserves. Faculty and staff put copies of such items on closed reserves at the Circulation Desk in order to provide easy access for an entire class or for the college community.

The items on reserve are listed in the library catalog. They can also be found by going to "Finding Books Using Library Catalogs" Course Reserves. Reserve materials are organized under the course abbreviation and number, and by the name of the faculty member. Electronic Reserves are included in the lists and are linkable, but require a Heidelberg College ID and a course password.

Loan policies are determined by the faculty and range from "library use only" to a specified number of days. Check the front cover of each item to learn its loan period.

Students must show their Heidelberg ID card to sign out reserve materials, even to use within the library.

Fines are 50 cents per hour per item up to a maximum of $5.00 per day. There is a one hour grace period each morning after the library opens, for reserve items taken out overnight.

Book Returns

Book returns are located at the Circulation Desk and to the left of the outside front doors.