Loan, renewal and return

Loan, renewal and return

Opening times of the service

Pisa sites:
      Monday - Friday:  9.00 – 19.15
      Saturday: 9.00 - 18.45 (Orologio-Carovana and Capitano sites)

Florence site - Palazzo Strozzi  
      Monday - Friday: 9.00-14.15

The closures and variations in opening times planned for the current year, for example in the summer and public holidays, are listed at the page Closures and variations of opening hours.

Changes in hours and closures not foreseen, for example for union assembly or strike, will be posted in the News and Events section of the home page.

 

 

User categories and their relative rights

Admission to local loans depends on the individual user's category of appurtenance. To find out your category of appurtenance and rights regarding the services of the Library, consult the page Admission.

 

 

Loaning conditions

The loaning conditions of bibliographical documents vary depending on the type of material and the user's category of appurtenance.
To find out the loaning conditions of any bibliographical document, you will need to authenticate in the SEARCH catalogue.
Bibliographical documents may have the following loaning policies:

  • 30-day loan + 30 days' possible extension
  • 15-day loan + 5 days' possible extension
  • Evening / holiday loan: return by 1 p.m. of the following day
  • Loan in reading room: 10 days, reservation obligatory
  • Loan in reading room: 6 days, reservation obligatory
  • Loan not permitted

 

 

Loans

After checking its loaning conditions in the catalogue, users take the required volume from the shelf and show their admission card to request   the loan at the first-access desk. The receipt for the loan, with the indication of its expiry date, is sent by e-mail. The expiry date of the user's loans is in any case verifiable on the personal area of SEARCH. For further details, please consult the tutorial or the Personal virtual area: user's guide.
Users are advised to look after the materials on loan to them in an adequate manner, but also, in their own interest, to check the state of conservation of the volumes before taking them away, reporting to the first-access desk any prior damage (such as torn pages, pen, pencil or highlighter marks, or damaged bindings). No marks whatsoever may be applied to the volumes: any damage to the material ascertained on its return may lead to a demand for reimbursement of the volume on the part of the Library.
Please remember that the loan is personal: the materials on loan may not be used by anyone else but the borrower.
A volume may not be taken out on loan again by the same user in the 7 days following its return, thus ensuring that other users may benefit from it.

 

 

Renewals

Renewable loans are solely those with a 30-day Loan or a 15-day Loan policy; these loans may be renewed only once, for 30 and 5 days respectively. Renewal is not possible with any other policy.
Renewal is permitted only if the loan has not yet expired and if the material has not been reserved by another user in the meantime.
To renew a loan, you will need to authenticate on SEARCH and select the item My loans from the personal area: in the list that is visualised, click on the item Renew next to the title. The new expiry date will be calculated starting from the renewal date. For further details, please consult the tutorial or the Personal virtual area: user's guide..

 

 

Returns

Users are required to return books on loan to them by the expiry date.
For late returns, the regulations specify a period of suspension from the service equal to the number of days overdue accumulated. In the case of failure to return a book, the user is required to buy another copy of the work for the Library. Any user who, despite all reminders, fails to return a work or to buy another copy of the work for the Library will be permanently barred from using the service. 
In their utilisation of the service, users are obliged to respect prevailing legislation regarding authors' rights. Any infractions of the said legislation are in no way attributable to the Library.

 

 

Reading room loans

All closed shelf materials may be consulted at the Capitano site with a reading room loan, of varying duration according to the type of material.

Rare and Ancient collections and Rare materials in storage may be consulted solely on loan in the reading room, whereas other closed shelf collections may also be taken out by users having the right to a local loan, on the basis of the single copy policy. 
Users must adhere to the indications provided by the personnel for correct consultation and protection of the materials requested.
For details as to the duration of reading room loans and the maximum number of loans permitted, please consult the table relating to your user group on the Admission page.

Each time a user leaves the reading room, even for brief intervals, he or she must return the materials to the loans desk, where a temporary return will be registered.

At the end of the day's service, users must return the materials on loan in the reading room to the first-access desk, specifying whether the return is temporary or final.

As a rule, reading room loans are not renewable; however, the manager may authorise an extension should a proven need arise.

 

 

Loans between the Pisa and Florence sites (only for SNS users)

Users affiliated to the SNS of Pisa may request bibliographical materials located at the Library of the Florence site and vice versa. Once the copy required has been traced, the request may be submitted using SEARCH; the service is available for loanable materials with the 30- and 15-day policies.
Where the copy requested is available at the desk of the site of appurtenance, the user will be notified of its availability.

 

 

Long-duration loans and other special requirements (for SNS users only)

Lecturers, researchers, laboratories and research centres of the Scuola Normale that, for proven requirements (such as for study, educational needs or seminars) need to keep books on loan for longer periods than those specified in the policy may apply by writing to prestitobib@sns.it e indicando il periodo d’interesse che non potrà essere superiore a 1 anno.
, indicating the period required, which may not exceed one year.
Those running internal seminar activities who for a determined period need to reserve for  sole consultation at the site a set of volumes relevant to the seminar may apply to the contact person of the sector to request their temporary exclusion from loan on the part of others.

 

 

Reservation of books out on loan (reserved for SNS users only)

Users affiliated with the SNS can reserve books out on loan to other users if no other copy of the same edition is available on the shelves.
Reservations must be made autonomously through SEARCH, with prior authentication.

Reservation does not imply the right to an early recall of the book on loan, but prevents its renewal; it is for this reason that reserved copies must be returned with particular promptness.
Once the volume has been returned, the user who has reserved it will receive notification of its availability via email; the volume must be collected within 6 days, after which the reservation is no longer valid and the volume is placed once more on the shelf.
You can reserve a book that is already reserved; the reservations will be dispatched in order of arrival.

 

 

Communications to users

All communications to users relating to the circulation services are sent exclusively by e-mail; these include receipts of loans, return and renewal, reminders when the expiry date of a loan is imminent, reminders about expired loans, the availability of a reserved copy and a summary of the user's situation.
Any failed notifications should be reported to the e-mail address prestitobib@sns.it.