Schoolcraft Community Library cards are issued free of charge to any resident property owners, and business owners within the Village of Schoolcraft, Prairie Ronde Township, or Schoolcraft Township. Non-residents who pay taxes on real or personal property within these library boundaries are also eligible. Application for a library card must be made in person with proof of identity and residency shown at the time of application. Acceptable forms of proof include a driver’s license, State issued ID, tax receipt, voter registration, current utility bill, property deed, tax bill or lease agreement. A person under 16 years of age must have a parent or guardian sign a card application and show proof of residency. By applying for a youth’s card, the adult assumes responsibility for the youth’s choice of material and financial responsibility for materials checked out on the youth’s library card. Residents, property owners and business owners will be issued an in-District Card which allows access to all library services and is valid for 2 years. Special cards for Non-Residents are available as follow:
Patrons from libraries that share reciprocity with Schoolcraft Community Library may apply for a Reciprocal Card. This is for Schoolcraft Village and Township residence only and DOES NOT extend to residents of Prairie Ronde. Schoolcraft Community Library has reciprocity agreements with Kalamazoo Public Library, Portage District Library and Vicksburg District Library. Reciprocal Cards are valid for one year and allow access to all library services except digital and interlibrary loan services which are available at their home library
Persons who live outside of the district and are not served by a library with which Schoolcraft Community Library has reciprocity may apply for a non-resident card for a fee to be established at the discretion of the Library Director and posted at the front desk. This fee must be paid at the time of application and annually at renewal. Non-resident cards allow access to all library services. Non-residents DO NOT have reciprocal privileges.
Educators working in the Schoolcraft Community School District may apply for a complimentary card. Educators must show proof of identity and employment at the time of application. Educator Cards are valid for one year and allow access to all services except digital and interlibrary loan services which are available at their home library.
If a patron loses a library card they may pay a fee and be issued a new card. The Library Director sets the fee for replacing library cards and posts this information at the desk.
Checkout periods will be established and posted at the desk by the Library Director for items such as but not limited to the following: books; periodicals; cassettes, CDs; books/cassettes; and videos/DVDs.
The Library Director may set a rental fee for some library items. The fee schedule will be posted with the checkout periods.
FINES—
To promote free and equal access to the library for all, Schoolcraft Community Library does not access daily overdue fines. Patrons are still responsible for returning items on or before the due date. To assist in the timely return of its materials the library will notify patrons of overdue material.
OVERDUE NOTICE SCHEDULE—
21 days late First Notice-phone call or email
42 days late Second Notice – phone call or email
60 days late Third Notice- INVOICE sent including replacement cost.
Materials kept out 60 days beyond due date will be marked as lost and the cost of the item and a $3 processing fee will be charged to the patron’s account. The patron account and those linked to the account will be restricted from borrowing materials. Once an item is paid for, no refund will be given. Items will be replaced at the library’s discretion. In the event that the library has purchased a replacement for a lost item and a patron returns item after 30 days, they will still owe for the item.
Interlibrary Loan—
In-District Cardholders may request items unavailable at the library from the MeLCat Interlibrary loan system. Requests may be placed in person, by phone or online at www.mel.org. A patron will be notified when a requested item arrives at the library. The item due date will be affixed to the item and should not be removed. Items borrowed through interlibrary loan must be returned to SCL. The policies regarding MeLCat use and participation can be found at mcls.org/mel/melcat.
Residents may take out up to 40 items at a time. Students are limited to 10 items. The Library Director may elect to limit the number of items a card holder’s family can check out in any given period of time. Such limits are appropriate when there is broad demand for a given item or topic and the supply of items is limited.
Renewal period limits may be established for categories of items or for specific items by the Library Director. Unless an item is on reserve, it may be renewed for an additional checkout period. If there are reserves on the item, it cannot be renewed. Materials that are rented for a fee may be checked out for an additional checkout period, but an additional rental fee is charged for the extra time.
The Library may need to take some items out of circulation for repairs or during maintenance periods. Some items may be subject to limited availability to minors due to their content per applicable law.