Maryland Association of Public Library Administrators
Cooperative Borrowing Agreement
Maryland public library system believe in the spirit of cooperation in providing public service to the residents of Maryland. This agreement is separate from the policies and procedures set forth in the Maryland Interlibrary Organization agreement. This agreement does not apply to MARINA loans, please see Resource Sharing/Interlibrary Loan Agreement.
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
- Maryland residents are eligible to use any Maryland public library system and check out materials subject to the lending system's current policies and procedures. The intent of this principle is so that non-county residents are able to borrow materials on the day they come to the library.
- Library users will be governed by the rules of the library system from which they borrow or use materials.
- The loaning library will use the bar code of the resident's existing library card, if possible, in order to register the resident into the library database.
- All public library systems will accept for return materials borrowed from other library systems in the State subject to the receiving system's current policies and procedures.All public library systems will accept returned materials borrowed from other public library systems in the state and send them to the owning system.
- All Maryland public library systems will adhere to the Cooperative Borrowing Agreement.
II. SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES
- The lending library is responsible for notifying the customer of overdue materials and securing the return of these materials or payment for lost materials.
- Library materials owned by one library system and returned to another library system will be cleared of all fines when they reach the owning library. Note: Other fees may still apply.
Updated July 17, 2018