Ocean State Libraries The 49 RI public library systems of the Ocean State Libraries (OSL) (formerly Cooperative Libraries Automated Network or CLAN) are linked through a state-wide communications network and an Innovative Interfaces Millennium system. All member libraries have high-speed Internet access through the OSL network. Here are some other facts about OSL:
- The 49 library systems in OSL offer access to a combined total of 4.4 million items
- Over 6.9 million items per year are borrowed from member libraries
- There are over 450,000 registered OSL library card holders
- OSL operates with an annual budget of $1.45 million derived from local support
- More than 1.5 million items annually are sent through the state-wide interlibrary loan system by OSL libraries
OSL borrowing policies
PURPOSE: To establish a list of alternate patron identifications to be used by all member libraries and entered in the appropriate field of the patron record in the database.
POLICY: A minimum of one of the following identifications along with a verifiable address is required from patrons applying for an OSL card.
ALL PATRONS MUST SHOW PROOF OF IDENTITY AND PROOF OF WHERE THEY RESIDE.
PRIMARY IDENTIFICATION (A MINIMUM OF ONE REQUIRED)
1. Current Driver’s License
2. Current State I.D.
3. Current Liquor I.D.
SECONDARY IDENTIFICATION (2 OR MORE REQUIRED)
1. Car Registration
2. Personal or Payroll check with printed name and address
3. Current Utility Bill
4. Welfare Card
5. Identification by a member of the staff
6. Telephone directory
7. City directory
8. Valid Green Card
9. Rental Lease
10. Proof of mailing (must have current postmark
11. Passport
12. Military I.D.
For College Students:
1. Student I.D. (if living on campus), and proof of permanent home address.
2. Student I.D. and other I.D. (if living off campus), and proof of permanent home address.
For Young Adults:
1. Current Student I.D.
2. Bus Pass
3. Photo Identification
4. Report Card
5. Class Schedule
6. Parent name and address (see above list for verification)
For Children:
Signature of parent or guardian required for all children’s cards
OSL POLICY NO. 2
Date: 5/22/08 Revised: 2/21/13
PATRON LOANS
PURPOSE: To establish criteria to be met in extending borrowing privileges to OSL patrons.
POLICY:
1. BORROWERS CARDS
a. Each OSL patron must present his/her valid OSL card to the library before borrowing privileges will be extended. Exceptions may be made, for good and sufficient reasons, by a person in authority at the loaning library.
b. A patron should have only one OSL card with one active barcode.
c. The charge for a lost OSL card is $1.00. For libraries using photo cards a charge for replacement is
$3.00.
2. LOCAL POLICIES
a. The policies of the owning library will govern the loan transaction. It is the responsibility of the
lending library to inform its patrons of policy.
b. Libraries will accept and check in materials returned (belonging) to any (member) library, but will
not be responsible for damage incurred during transit.
3. FINES
a. No loans will be made to OSL patrons owing more than $5.00 in fines.
b. Loans will be made if the patron brings the fine amount to $5.00. This does NOT apply to LOST
items.
c. Libraries will accept and retain fines due at any library. Those libraries that choose not to
retain fines will forward them to the loaning library. This will be done in accordance with OLIS/LORI policy; no currency or checks may be sent through the delivery.
d. Fines will be assessed according to the rules of the owning library.
4. OVERDUE LIBRARY MATERIALS
No loans will be made to OSL patrons with overdue materials at any OSL library. Items 2 weeks or less overdue may be renewed to allow borrowing privileges to be restored. Exceptions may be made, for good and sufficient reasons, by a person in authority at the loaning library.
OSL POLICY NO. 2.1
Date: 5/22/08 Revised: 2/21/13
LOST OR UNRETURNED MATERIALS
PURPOSE: To establish a method for dealing with lost materials and to provide a standard receipt form for use by all OSL libraries.
POLICY:
A. No loans will be made to patrons with outstanding lost materials. Exceptions may be made, with
good and sufficient reasons, by a person in authority at the loaning library.
B. All libraries will accept payments for lost or unreturned materials from all OSL libraries. Please encourage patron to pay on line via credit or debit card or in person by personal check. If a library accepts cash or a check, that library must make arrangements to transfer the funds to the owning library. No cash or checks may be sent through the OLIS/LORI delivery service.
C. The “OSL MATERIALS LOST AND PAID” form must be used or you may print a slip from the fines paid record. This form will then be forwarded with the payment to the owning library. This will be done as per OLIS/LORI Delivery policies.
D. Patrons will be issued a receipt for the payment
E. The patron record will be updated to reflect the amount of payment.
OSL MATERIALS LOST AND PAID
OWNING LIBRARY _________________________ DATE_____________
PATRON NAME _________________________________________________
ITEM TITLE _________________________________________________
ITEM AUTHOR _________________________________________________
ITEM BARCODE _________________________________________________
RECEIVING LIBRARY ____________________AMOUNT RECEIVED______________
NAME OF RECEIVER _________________________________________________
CHECK ___________ CASH __________ ENCLOSED
PLEASE CHECK TO SEE IF THE SYSTEM LISTS THIS ITEM AS "LOST".
IF NOT, PLEASE SET IT TO "LOST" AND FORWARD A COPY OF THIS SLIP AND THE PAYMENT TO THE OWNING LIBRARY. PLEASE BE DISCREET IF SENDING CASH. THANK YOU.
OSL POLICY NO. 3
DATE: 5/22/08
UNRECOVERED MATERIALS
PURPOSE: To establish guidelines to be followed when overdue library materials are not recovered from patrons and not cleared from the patron record.
POLICY:
1. A list of unrecovered materials will be provided to each OSL library by Central Site upon request, or can be printed by each member.
2. Items will change to BILLED status after 30 days.
3. The owning library will make decisions on replacement of unrecovered materials.
OSL POLICY NO. 4
DATE: 5/22/08
RENEWALS
PURPOSE: To establish guidelines for renewing items belonging to other OSL libraries.
POLICY:
1. One renewal per item if owning library allows renewals. No overrides permitted except by the owning library.
2. If an item is on hold, a renewal will not be permitted.
3. Overdue items MAY BE RENEWED if 14 days or less overdue, and no holds are on that item. Exceptions may be made, for good and sufficient reasons, by a person in authority at the loaning library.
OSL POLICY NO. 5
DATE: 2/12/98
"CLAIMS RETURN"
PURPOSE: To establish a method for dealing with claims that items have been returned.
POLICY:
1. Only the owning library may make the decision in CLAIMS RETURN process.
2. Patrons will be informed that it is not possible to check the shelves at another library for an item
they claim to have returned. The owning library must be contacted.
OSL POLICY NO. 7
DATE: 8/19/94
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY OF MEMBERS
PURPOSE:
1. To further define some fiscal responsibilities of members to OSL with special regard to Article VI, Section 2b of the Bylaws.
2. To emphasize that it is in the interest of all members to insure that each member library fulfills its fiscal responsibility to OSL.
POLICY:
1. Membership fees shall be paid within sixty (60) days of billing date. Late fees of 1.5% per month
will be charged on all overdue bills.
2. If bills are ninety (90) days past due the Executive Director of OSL shall contact the Director of
the overdue member library to seek a resolution to the payment problem.
3. If OSL fees remain unpaid sixty (60) days after the date of the next quarterly payment and no
resolution of the payment problem has been agreed to by the Executive Director, Steering
Committee and Library Director, the Steering Committee shall invoke Article VI, Section 2 of
the Bylaws.
4. The Steering Committee shall call a special meeting of the full membership in a timely fashion to
consider termination of membership. This meeting shall be held no sooner than ten (10) days
after the Chair has provided written notice to the overdue member.
SUMMARY:
60 Days
If bill has not been paid, a late fee of 1.5% per month is incurred.
90 Days
Executive Director and Library Director meet to resolve the problem. If problem is not resolved, second
invoice for delinquent payment is sent.
150 Days
Invoke Article VI, Section 2 of Bylaws; send written notice to member; call special meeting.
160 Days
Special meeting held to consider termination of membership.
OSL POLICY NO. 8
Approved: 5/3/12 Effective: 5/3/12
FULL ACCESS CARD POLICY
A. Full-service cards may be issued free of charge to those individuals meeting one of the following criteria. There is only one full-access card allowed per person:
1. Individuals whose residence falls within an OSL member community (Requires proof of residency such as driver’s license, state ID card, utility bills, government correspondence. See OSL Policy #1 Patron ID for further examples.)
v Part-time or non-permanent residents, such as military personnel, college students or summer home renters. (Temporary renters shall be treated like full-time renters, but the card expiration date should match length of stay.)
v Residents of other states who own property (land) in RI and therefore pay property taxes in that community, upon proof of ownership, i.e. current tax bill.
2. Employees of Ocean State Libraries and member libraries regardless of their residency.
B. A resident of a neighboring state whose community has a library certified according to their state requirements may purchase a full access card at the current annual fee from an OSL member library that will be good for one year. This card will be for an individual only and must be renewed each year.
C. INTERLIBRARY LOAN POLICY : The East Greenwich Free Library, as a member of the Ocean State Libraries consortium, shall provide and promote interlibrary loan services to all patrons holding a valid Ocean State Library card, except those patrons holding local use only cards. Library holdings may be requested via the OSL online catalog or with the assistance of any library staff member. The availability of these items is dependent on the owning library’s policies. For items that are not found in the OSL online catalog, Rhode Island library users are able to borrow materials from non-OSL Rhode Island libraries and out-of-state libraries using the Interlibrary Loan service. Patrons should seek the assistance of the reference staff. The library reserves the right to refuse to borrow materials from another library for any patron owing more than five dollars in fines, or having materials more than two weeks overdue. There is no guarantee that the materials requested will be available from another institution. The East Greenwich Free Library participates in complete resource sharing. All East Greenwich items set as “holdable” are eligible for interlibrary loan requests.
LOCAL USE CARD POLICY
Effective: 1/1/13 – revised March, 2014
Local use only cards must be specified in Millennium using Patron Type 61. These cards will only work at the home library and only for home library materials. There is only one local use card allowed per person. The fee for a “local use only” card will be determined by the local library’s Board of Trustees. It is suggested that these cards be issued for a year orless. “Local use only” cards may be issued at the discretion of the home library. These are only suggestions. A local library can decide who they want to give local cards. Some types of residents that a local library might want to consider providing “local use only” cards for are:
1. As of January 1, 2013 all cards issued under the “working in Rhode Island” rule to residents of neighboring out-of-state communities who are not OSL members will be switched to local use only. The relationship between Westerly Library and Pawcatuck, CT is the exception as Pawcatuck pays Westerly for library service and that population is included in Westerly’s fees.
2. Short-term residents (summer vacationers who are not renting, persons admitted to a treatment facility, etc.)
3. Teachers who are working in the community’s schools. Libraries might want to issue cards for a school year, a season, or a year depending on the time a person would need to use the library resources. Teachers who fall under the full-access card criteria may be issued their own personal use card.
4. Full-time employees of local companies that provide municipal tax support to the local community.
TO RESIGN FROM OCEAN STATE LIBRARIES, INC.: REQUIRED MEMBER NOTICE
From the By-Laws:
Article 5, Section 1, C.
“A Member may reduce its participation in OSL, including, but not limited to such things as closing branches, reducing hours, or dropping services that had been approved in the budget, effective at the beginning of any fiscal year (that is, July 1) by giving at least one year’s prior notice in writing to the President of OSL and by paying applicable membership costs to OSL through the date of the membership reduction.”
From the Member Agreement:
“Penalty:
In addition to and not in lieu of any remedies provided in this Agreement, OSL may, in its sole discretion, impose penalties on Member for Member’s failure to comply with this Agreement, the Bylaws or the Rules, including, but not limited to, monetary fines, reduction in Services or temporary elimination of access to Services.”
POLICY:
A) If a library, in accordance with the requirements of the By-laws, gives written notice of intention to terminate its membership in OSL the following July, that library will be removed from the list of participating members for purposes of calculating the succeeding annual budget and corresponding member fee schedule in November of the year that notice was provided. If, after that time, the library changed plans and wished to remain an OSL member, it must pay any fees incurred to date of notice associated with the efforts to adjust or remove the patrons and holdings of that library. Imposed fees can be paid quarterly over a year in order to minimize impact.
B) Policy for communities that suspend or terminate library service
OSL’s services are paid by its member libraries. If a library suspends or terminates service, it will lose its OSL membership and patrons of that library will no longer be entitled to services from OSL’s member libraries. Anyone may enter a public library and use the library’s resources and the library’s materials in-house according to the individual library’s rules. However,
1.) Patrons with cards issued by a non-member library will be coded as “Suspended” and all borrowing privileges will be revoked.
2.) If a city or town has suspended or terminated library services, patrons who reside in that community but hold cards issued by other OSL libraries will likewise have their cards coded as “Suspended” and all borrowing privileges will be revoked.
3.) A municipality suspending its local library services may negotiate with a neighboring community to allow its residents to obtain library services from the neighboring community. The neighboring community, which would be providing the services, would decide what compensation it would have to receive. That compensation would have to include increased OSL assessments to reflect the combined population base of both communities for purposes of OSL’s membership fee calculations.
Under such circumstances, the neighboring community would agree to provide Local Use Only cards to the other community’s residents. However, full-service OSL cards could be issued if proposed services conformed to OSL’s policies and procedures and specific approval was obtained from OSL.
C) Policy for communities whose libraries are non-compliant, according to the Standards Certification process established by OLIS
OSL is a consortium based on the principle that its members actively participate in resource-sharing. If a community reduces its library’s budget so severely that they fail to receive waivers for not meeting Minimum Standards for Rhode Island Public Libraries, then it will be presumed they are no longer able to contribute sufficiently to the system and therefore the following rules will apply:
1.) The library will be allowed to retain its records in the OSL network, and be allowed to continue to use the cataloging and circulation modules, so long as they continue to pay their annual membership dues.
2.) However, patrons of that community will have their library cards coded for Local Use Only, and will no longer be entitled to services from OSL’s other member libraries. [As a non-compliant library, they will lose their library’s privilege of participating in the LORI delivery system.]
3.) In cases where a community has more than one library, the combined services of the libraries in that community must qualify under Minimum Standards, or patrons of all the libraries in that community will have their library cards re-coded to Local Use Only.”
