Loan Policy

[Article One] The collection in the National Taiwan University Library (hereafter referred to as “the Library”) are for the use of all faculty, staff, and students of the National Taiwan University. 

[Article Two] Materials shall be checked out in person to those with the supporting ID and in compliance with the following regulations:

1. Faculty, staff and students should present their valid University ID to borrow materials from the library.
2. Part-time faculty should provide a University ID issued by NTU personnel office to borrow materials from the library.
3. Post-doctoral researchers and research assistants working on the University’s special projects should provide a University ID issued by NTU Office of Research and Development to borrow materials from the library.
4. Visiting scholars and students invited and hosted by NTU departments or institutions should provide their University IDs issued by Office of International Affairs to borrow materials from the library. 
5. Retired faculty and staff should provide a retirement certificate to apply for a library borrower card.
6. Alumni may apply for an alumni borrowing card for an annual fee and deposit fee.
7. Library borrower cards are for the personal use of one person only. Lending and exchange of library borrower cards is strictly prohibited. Violations are subject to a 3-month suspension of borrowing privileges.
8. The holder of the library borrower card is responsible for the safekeeping of the card and should report any lost cards immediately to the library. The cardholder is responsible for any losses to the library collection incurred before the lost card is reported. 

[Article Three] Relevant regulations on the number of borrowed books and loan period are in the attached table.  

Loan period for books that have been reserved by other borrowers will be adjusted to 14 days. 

[Article Four] Special collections, reference books, course reserved materials, periodicals and newspapers may not be borrowed. Other regulations may apply as authorized by the unit responsible for the material. 

[Article Five] Materials readers borrowed can be renewed and the new loan period is calculated starting from the renewal date. Renewals can be made online, by telephone, or in person. There is a maximum loan period for each reader. Within that period, a reader can renew borrowed materials an unlimited number of times. Renewals are not allowed for reserved materials and for overdue materials. 

[Article Six] Borrowers can request books, the number of request is limited to 30 items. When a requested item is available for pickup, the system will automatically add a message to the requester's circulation record, and the Library will notify the requester by email or telephone. If the requested item is not picked up within five days, the request will be cancelled, and next requester in line will be notified for pickup. Other regulations may apply as authorized by the unit responsible for the material. 

[Article Seven] Materials already on loan are subject to recall if they are assigned as course reserved materials by a professor or in any other special cases, and must be returned within 7 days of the recall notification. Late returns are subject to late fines and the loan period listed in Article Three will not be honored in such circumstances. 

[Article Eight] Faculty and staff who quit from NTU, and students who are graduating, transferring schools, deferring or those who have been expelled must return all borrowed materials and pay fines if they exist before their official paperwork can be processed. 

[Article Nine] Borrowers are held responsible for the replacement of any lost or damaged materials. The following rules apply:

1. Replacement of original, hardcover copies with paperbacks is not allowed.
2. Replacement of original copies of earlier editions with newer editions is allowed. If the lost book is part of an entire set, the borrower must replace the entire set if he/she wishes to replace with a newer edition. The borrower cannot claim any rights to the original set.
3. Audio-visual material must be replaced with a public edition of the original.
4. Academic thesis and dissertation must be replaced with a duplicated copy protected by intellectual property right law.

When the above-listed replacement methods are not feasible, compensation in compliance with the following rules is allowed:

1. The payment should be twice the price（converted by the CPI*） as the time of purchase.
2. Under circumstances when the price at the time of purchase is unknown and only the base price is known:
3. Item 1 of this Article may apply for material that was not purchased by the library, and Item 2 of this Article may apply for material that is not priced.

   
   A. Books: Compensation for books published within the territory of the Republic of China should be charged at the rate of NT$ 3 per page; for books published in Mainland China, NT$5 per page should be charged; for books published abroad NT$10 per page should be charged. When the total number of pages in a book was under 100, borrowers will be charged the cost of 100 pages. When page numbers of a book is unknown, borrowers will be charged the cost of 300 pages.
   
   B. Audio-visual materials: Compensation for audio material is NT$1000 per item; Domestically-released video tapes and computer CDs are charged NT$3000 per item; foreign-released material is charged NT$5000 per item. Compensation for lost items other than the above-listed categories is subject to special payment regulations.

4. If an attachment in a single book is lost, then the borrower must pay fees for the replacement of a new book. If more than one book in a series is lost, the borrower must pay for the replacement of the whole series. Replacement fees are converted after the CPI has been calculated. The borrower also forfeits all rights regarding the disposal of the original set.
5. Rare collections, out-of-print books, painting albums and materials published before 1945 are subject to special compensation regulations based on their individual values.

* CPIs (Consumer Price Index) after 1959 should be based on the Measurement Table of Consumer Price Indices in Taiwan from the Commodity Price Statistics Monthly in Taiwan Area of the Republic of China. CPIs before 1959 should be based on the “Taiwan Wholesale Price Indices, 1907-1986” provided by Professor Tsong-min Wu.  

[Article Ten] The borrower is responsible for notifying the library of any lost items and compensation or replacement must be made within 14 working days starting from the due date. Otherwise, apart from having to pay replacement fees, borrowers will also be subject to the late fees listed in Article Eleven. The library has the right to suspend the borrowing privileges of borrowers who fail to make the replacement payments. 

[Article Eleven] Borrowed material must be returned within the due date. Overdue materials are subject to late fees and borrowers are subject to the suspension of their borrowing privileges. A late fee of NT$5 per item per day will be imposed on books from the general collection. A late fee of NT$5 per item per hour will be imposed on over-night loans. The overdue fine for audio-visual materials is NT$30 per item per day. Suspension of borrowing privileges will be terminated once the books have been returned and the payment of late fees have been made.  

[Article Twelve] Days that the library actually opens are used in the calculation of late return dates and late fees for overdue books are charged as follows:

1. General collection
   Late fees are charged by “days” starting from the day after the due date. Hours are immediately rounded into days.
   Late fees will not be imposed on overdue books returned within the grace period of three days starting from the due date. Overdue books that are not returned within this grace period will be subject to late fines charged starting from the day after the due date.
2. Overnight Loans
   Late fees are calculated by “hours” starting from one hour after the library opens on the due date. Minutes will be immediately rounded into hours.
   Materials that are not returned within the grace period of four hours will be subject to late fines starting from one hour after the library opens on the due date.
3. Audio-visual materials
   The time unit used to measure how long an item is overdue is “day.” The day after the due date is consider the first overdue day. A period of less than a day is still considered one day.
   For those who return audio-visual materials within the first day after the due date, there will be no overdue fine. However, if materials are not returned within that time, the Library will start charging fines for each overdue day, including the first day after the due date.

[Article Thirteen] Libraries belonging to individual college may formulate special regulations in accordance with their actual needs. These regulations will be implemented accordingly after being passed by their library committees and the Library work meeting. 

[Article Fourteen] These Library Loan Policies are implemented after being passed by the administrative meeting of the University. The same will apply in the case of amendments and revisions.