Borrow and renew books
You can borrow items by using the self-issue machines on the ground floor or have them issued at the Library service point.
Borrowing Library items
Your student or staff ID card is your library card and you can access your library account through the library catalogue - Library Search | Ketu.
Borrowing entitlements
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Students can borrow up to 100 items for up to 12 weeks, with three renewals.
- Masters and PhD students can borrow up to 100 items for up to 12 weeks, with three renewals.
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Staff can borrow up to 100 items for up to 12 weeks, with three renewals.
These loan periods may vary depending on the item, and any requests made subsequent to borrowing.
Otago Polytechnic students and staff can borrow books from the University of Otago Libraries. Either pop in and borrow the book with your current student or staff ID or use Library Search | Ketu to place a request – you can even choose which library you would like to collect the book from.
Library fines and charges
When Library material is on loan to you it becomes your responsibility and fines will be charged for:
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Overdue items borrowed from the Reserve collection
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Overdue items that have been requested by another person (overdue recalls)
| Students ($30 limit) | Staff ($50 limit) | |
|
Overdue standard loan |
No fines |
No fines |
|
Overdue 7 day loan items |
$1 per day |
No fines |
|
Overdue Course Reserve items |
$6.00 per hour (10c per minute) |
$6.00 per hour (10c per minute) |
| Overdue requested/recalled items | $3.00 per day | $3.00 per day |
| Lost items | $100 default replacement cost | |
Borrowing blocks:
Your library record will be blocked, preventing further borrowing, for the following reasons:
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More than $30 library fines ($50 for Otago Polytechnic staff)
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Overdue items that have been recalled
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Lost item replacement charges
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Expired account (no longer enrolled or employed at Otago Polytechnic)
Paying Library fines
Library fines can be paid immediately, online via Library Search | Ketu and My Account with a credit or debit card.
More options for paying fines are on the University of Otago Library, Paying Library fines page.
Avoid Library fines and charges by renewing items before the due date.
Renewing Library items
Email alerts to renew or return items are sent to your Otago Polytechnic email. Most items on loan will automatically renew up to 3 times; the items that won't are:
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Items in the Reserve and 7-day collection
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Recalled items - no renewals are possible, return by due date
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Theses
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Hocken material
To renew items follow the steps below:
1. Open the library catalogue Library Search l Ketu and click on My Library Account (round button on far right).
2. Enter your student/staff email and password.
3. Go to the Loans section in your account. Here you can either:
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Renew All the items you have on loan
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Select View all loans and then choose the ones you want to renew
4. If you are on a public computer, don’t forget to sign out of your Library Account.
Unsuccessful renewals
There are a few reasons why a renewal will not be successful:
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The item has reached the limit of 3 renewals
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Items interloaned from another library can’t be renewed this way. Instructions for renewing Interloans are on the Interloan Service page.
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If your library fines have reached the assigned limit ($30 students and $50 staff), you’ll be unable to place renewals until they are paid online. Instructions for paying fines are also on this page.
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When someone has placed a request/recall on a library item, it can no longer be renewed.
