The February 10 CUNY Council of Chief Librarians meeting featured this presentation following the November 2013 CUNY Libraries Circulation Committee endorsement of 120-day library loan periods for faculty, PhD, and Master’s students, and 42-day loan periods for undergraduates. The CUNY Doctoral Students’ Council, the CUNY Graduate Council Library Committee, and the Graduate Center MALS faculty and students all support this proposal that would bring CUNY practice into line with other academic libraries.

CUNY library book loans are unusually brief: 42 days for faculty and doctoral students and 21 days for undergrads and Master’s students. The New York Public Library and MaRLI partners (New York University and Columbia), in contrast, loan books to CUNY faculty and grads for 120 days. CUNY renewal allowances vary by campus, but it is common for CUNY libraries to offer 0 to 3 renewals before a book must be returned to the shelf.

Any extension of library loan periods would require greater use of the overdue recall fines (currently $1/day) for books requested by other borrowers. After an initial guaranteed loan period (currently 3 weeks for undergrads and grads; 6 weeks for faculty and doctoral students), a 1st borrower would be notified by email to return any book that is recalled by a 2nd borrower. 1st borrowers who fail to return within a specified time period (currently 10 days from the email recall notice), would be fined at the higher recall rate. The CUNY Circulation Committee has not yet formed recall policies to govern with the proposed longer loan periods; the above are merely examples. Daily fines for overdue books NOT recalled by another borrower recently increased from $.10/day to $.25/day.

The CUNY Council of Chief Librarians discussed the issue but postponed action until a future spring 2014 meeting. The Council of Chief Librarians is an advisory body to the Office of Library Services and to the University Dean for Libraries and Information Resources at The City University of New York.

To express your views about CUNY-wide support for faculty and graduate loans supporting research, contact any CUNY Chief Librarian.

CUNY University Dean for Libraries and Information Resources Curtis Kendrick
curtis.kendrick@cuny.edu
646-664-8035

CUNY Council of Chief Librarians, Chair
Lehman College Chief Librarian: Professor Kenneth Schlesinger
kenneth.schlesinger@lehman.cuny.edu
718-960-8577/7776

Baruch Chief Librarian: Professor Arthur Downing
arthur_downing@baruch.cuny.edu
646-312-1026

BMCC Chief Librarian: Professor Sidney Eng
seng@bmcc.cuny.edu
212-220-1499

BCC Interim Chief Librarian: Professor Michael Miller
michael.miller@bcc.cuny.edu
718-289-5439

Brooklyn College Chief Librarian and Executive Director of Academic Information Technologies: Professor Stephanie Walker
swalker@brooklyn.cuny.edu
718-951-5342

City College Interim Chief Librarian: Professor Chip Stewart
cstewart@ccny.cuny.edu
212-650-5369

Staten Island Chief Librarian: Professor Wilma L. Jones
wilma.jones@csi.cuny.edu
718-982-4001

Graduate Center Chief Librarian: Professor Polly Thistlethwaite
pthistlethwaite@gc.cuny.edu
212-817-7060

CUNY Graduate School of Journalism Interim Chief Librarian: Barbara Gray
barbara.gray@journalism.cuny.edu
646-758-7735/7730

CUNY Law Chief Librarian: Professor Julie Lim
lim@mail.law.cuny.edu
718-340-4259

Guttman Community College Chief Librarian and Director of Academic Technology: Professor Vee Herrington
verlene.herrington@guttman.cuny.edu
646-313-8091

Hostos Community College Chief Librarian: Professor Madeline Ford
MFord@hostos.cuny.edu
718-518-4211

Hunter College Associate Dean and Chief Librarian: Professor Dan Cherubin
daniel.cherubin@hunter.cuny.edu
212-772-4143

John Jay College Interim Chief Librarian: Professor Bonnie R. Nelson
bnelson@jjay.cuny.edu
212-237-8267

Kingsborough Community College Chief Librarian: Professor Josephine Murphy
Josephine.Murphy@kbcc.cuny.edu
718-368-5438

LaGuardia Community College Chief Librarian: Professor Jane Devine
jane@lagcc.cuny.edu
718-482-5421

Lehman College Chief Librarian: Professor Kenneth Schlesinger
kenneth.schlesinger@lehman.cuny.edu
718-960-8577/7776

Medgar Evers College Chief Librarian: Professor David Orenstein
dorenstein@mec.cuny.edu
718-270-4880/3

New York City College of Technology Chief Librarian: Professor Darrow Wood
dwood@citytech.cuny.edu
718-260-5497

Queens College Library Interin Chief Librarian: Prof. Rolf Swensen
rolf.swensen@qc.cuny.edu
718-997-3760

Queensborough Community College Chief Librarian: Professor Jeanne Galvin
jgalvin@qcc.cuny.edu
718-631-6220

York College Chief Librarian: Professor Njoki Kinyatti
nkinyatti@york.cuny.edu
718-262-2021