Beginning April 14, all CUNY library borrowers will be extended longer library book loans. Renewal allowances, the majority ranging from 0 to 3, will continue to be determined by individual CUNY libraries. Books checked out on or after the 14th will have the longer loan periods; books borrowed prior to that will retain the due dates originally assigned.
The new loan periods improve upon current policies, but the brief loan lengths and renewal allowances fall far short of those requested by the Graduate Council Library Committee, the Doctoral Students Council, and the MALS program students and faculty. The Graduate Council Library Committee agrees that the brief loan periods may improve conditions for graduate and faculty researchers if CUNY renewal allowances are increased.
Library Loan Lengths Effective April 14, 2014
| Borrower Status | Loan Length |
| undergraduate | 4 weeks (from 3 weeks) |
| graduate |
6 weeks (from 3 weeks) |
| doctoral | 8 weeks (from 6 weeks) |
| staff | 4 weeks (from 3 weeks) |
| home CUNY faculty | 8 weeks min (varies) |
| other CUNY faculty | 8 weeks (from 6 weeks) |
The new library policies guarantee all borrowers a 3-week loan period. After that a book may be recalled by another CUNY borrower to be due at a new, earlier date, with overdue fines increased from $.25/day to $1.00/day for overdue recalled books. This uniform CUNY-wide recall policy is intended to make resource sharing more viable across CUNY libraries.
CUNY loan periods are much briefer than those for faculty and grads at NYPL (120 days, SUNY (155+ days), NYU (120 days), and Columbia (155 days). These libraries make great use of borrower recall for high-demand items.
Slightly longer loan lengths for CUNY books April 14
Influential CUNY librarians opposed longer loan periods for CUNY borrowers, arguing that the small percentage of books (around 1% per year) exiting libraries through intra-CUNY CLICS borrowing reduced on-shelf inventory necessary to support undergraduates.
Contact Chief Librarians to make a case for higher renewal allowances to provide meaningful CUNY-wide library support of graduate students and faculty. With a properly functioning recall policy, and with renewals interrupted by any borrower who needs a book, a generous renewal policy is appropriate. The University of London offers every class of borrower 4-week loans with unlimited renewals, for example. CUNY’s consortium is modeled after the University of London.
Prof. Polly Thistlethwaite is CUNY's Interim University Dean for Library Services. 
