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| Customer Suggestion Form |
| Citizen's Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials Form |
| Library Card Application - Youth |
What are the rules for checking out materials?
You must bring your library card to check out material from the library. You may check out up to 20 items if there are no long overdue items or unpaid fines or fees on your card. The library reserves the right to limit the number of items that may be checked out on one subject or in one classification. Materials are checked out for 3 weeks; entertainment and youth videos may be checked out for 7 days. The loan period for InterLibrary Loans is at the discretion of the lending library.
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Are there any fines or fees at the library?
The Virginia Beach Public Library charges overdue fines for the sole purpose of ensuring the prompt return of borrowed materials. Each part of the library's collection belongs equally to all citizens of the City and the library is vested with the responsibility to ensure that each citizen has an equal opportunity to use each individual item. If you keep a borrowed item for an excessive period of time, you deprive others of the opportunity to use that item. Fines have no direct correlation to the original or replacement cost of an item.
Library Fines and Fees
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What happens if I lose or damage something checked out to me?
If you lose or damage material you have checked out on your library card, then you are responsible for paying the current replacement cost plus a $5 processing fee.
Another option is to buy an exact replacement for the lost or damaged item (same edition, binding, and ISBN). Any replacement must be in new condition and audiovisual items must be in the original packaging, including shrink wrap. The $5 processing fee still applies. By supplying the library with a duplicate instead of paying for the item, you forfeit your right to a refund if the original item is found later.
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How confidential is my library record?
The American Library Association's "Statement on Professional Ethics, 1995" states that "Libraries must protect each user's right to privacy with respect to information sought or received, and materials consulted, borrowed or acquired."
The Library protects your right to privacy by forming a partnership with you or your family and allowing you to choose who has access to each person's library card. Individual control of a borrower's card is the most effective protection of privacy for the individual. This approach to privacy enables parents to adjust their awareness of their children's borrowing patterns to a degree that satisfies the family's system of values. It enables adults to accomplish their library business by permitting access to their record by another adult or child. How you choose to use and share your card will determine the degree of privacy that the Library can provide for your record. You can protect yourself to the degree you choose.
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Is it ok to let someone else use my library card?
Yes, but you are ultimately responsible for items checked out on your card.
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What can I do if I'm concerned about something I found in the library?
You are always welcome to speak directly to the manager of the library or to any of our library staff. In fact, face-to-face conversation is our preferred way of handling concerns.
All libraries also have Customer Suggestion Forms available as an option for comment. Such feedback enables the staff to be more aware of the needs and interests of the community.
Should you want a written explanation of the selection of a particular item in the collection, wish the library to reconsider the place of that item in the collection or want to express concern about an Internet web site, you may fill out a CITIZEN'S REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION OF LIBRARY MATERIALS form.
Your comments on the form and the item in question will be given to the librarian in charge of the agency to which it belongs. This librarian will be a member of a committee appointed by the Director to review the material about which you are concerned. Each committee member reads or otherwise uses the material in its entirety, reads critical reviews and other relevant professional literature, and prepares a written opinion of the material's place in the collection.
The librarian will continue to stay in touch with you, and will be glad to work with you to locate alternative materials. Your name and address will be kept in confidence by the committee, but your request will be discussed with library staff. When the committee has reached a decision, the Library Director will inform you in writing.
Concern with an Internet Web site: Your comments will be received by the Library's information staff and Collection Management Division. You will be notified concerning the Library's response to your recommendation.
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| Contact Information: |
| Virtual Library |
| 4100 Virginia Beach Blvd. |
| Virginia Beach, VA 23452 |
| chart@vbgov.com |
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