Lending regulations

1. At registration you will receive a library card.
2. If you only want to consult  material (so not borrow it), you do not need a library card. You can apply for a free reading room card.
3. Have you lost your library card or has it been stolen? To prevent misuse, you must warn the library immediately. You will receive a new library card against payment of administration costs and on presentation of a valid proof of identity.
4. Borrowers below the age of 18 are presumed to have subscribed to the library with the permission of their parents/legal guardians. Any liability resulting from the subscription taken out by their underage children/pupils must be accepted by the parents/legal guardians.

1. Utrecht University students can notify Student Services of their change of address. The change of address will be automatically processed in the University Library borrowers' register.
   Utrecht University staff and other visitors can notify desk staff of their change of address. You must show proof of identity.
2. Any consequences of not notifying the library of your change of address in time, are completely at your own risk and at your own expense.

1. You can check out books using the self-issue machine. Have you forgotten your library card? Please go to the service desk where you borrow the book on presentation of a valid proof of identity.
2. You may borrow up to 30 books at one time. You can ask permission to borrow more books temporarily. Fill in this form or ask at the service desk.
3. Some materials such as books published before 1900, are not for loan. However, you may consult this material if you are in possession of a library card or reading room card.
4. You must take care that all materials you check out are registered on your library card. If you leave the library taking materials which have not been registered for check out, you may be denied access to the library, either permanently or temporarily.
5. You are not permitted to loan borrowed materials to third parties.
6. You may collect material for another borrower on presentation of that person’s library card (for Utrecht University students: that person’s student card).
7. As a borrower, you are liable for damage, failure to return the book in time or loss of the materials borrowed by you, regardless of the cause. Make sure that the materials you want to borrow are in good condition. If you detect damage, you should report this at the service desk.
8. For the replacement of lost books or in the case of irreparable damage of materials borrowed by you, you must pay the replacement costs. In the case of repairable materials, you must pay the costs of repair.
9. If you are convinced that you have not checked out materials or that you have returned them, whereas the materials are still registered on your library card, you can make use of the complaints regulations.
10. When you return borrowed material, you can choose between a printed receipt or a receipt by email. If the administration system of the library shows that you have not returned the materials, you have no proof of the opposite. As a consequence, the library will hold you liable for the possible loss of the material.

1. The standard loan period is 28 days. Different loan periods are determined by the borrowing library itself. The loan period is extended automatically or you can extend the loan period yourself.
2. You must return materials no later than the last day of the loan period or send them – properly wrapped and stamped - by post. Sending items by post is at your own risk.
3. You can return materials at any Utrecht University library.

The procedure is as follows:

• The first day after the due date, you will be held liable for exceeding the loan period. No overdue fines are imposed yet.
• The seventh day after the due date, you must pay an overdue fine of €1 per book.
• Up to the thirteenth day after the due date the overdue fine per item will remain €1.
• The fourteenth day after the due date, the overdue fine will be raised to €3 per item. Up to the twentieth day after the due date the overdue fine per book will remain €3.
• You can renew the borrowed materials up to the twentieth day after the due date, unless the items have been requested by other borrowers.
• The twenty-first day after the due date, the overdue fine will be raised to €15 per book. You will be held liable for failing to return the borrowed materials. You can only have the materials renewed by the library, unless the books have been requested by other borrowers.
• The thirty-sixth day after the due date, you will pay the replacements costs of the books. These costs will be cancelled when you return the books. In case of non-payment, we will call in a debt-collecting agency.. Your library card will be blocked and you can no longer check out books until the costs mentioned above are paid. By returning the item, only the replacement costs will be cancelled.

How to pay your fine

You must use the payment machine in the library to pay your fine or go to the service desk. The library does not accept cash payment. You can also pay your fine by bank transfer. IBAN: NL38ABNA0484856898. BIC: ABNANL2A. University Library/ADC, P.O. Box 80011, 3508 TA Utrecht. Please state: Fine UBU and your library card number or student number.

Overdue notices

As an extra service the library will send you four overdue notices after the first, the seventh, the fourteenth and the twenty-first day following the due date.

• Students receive the overdue notices on their Solismail address.
• If you do not have an e-mail address, the notices will be sent to you by post.
•  No rights can be derived from not receiving overdue notices.

Other stipulations

• Your outstanding fines will not be cancelled on returning or renewing the book.
• If an outstanding fine amounts to €10 or more, you can only check out or renew items when this amount of money has been paid.

1. You must file your complaint via the Contact page. The head of the Department of Public Services will respond to the complaint in writing within two weeks.
2. If you are not satisfied with the response, you file your complaint again within two weeks, for the attention of the librarian of Utrecht University via the Contact page. You will receive a response in writing within two weeks. During this period when the librarian deals with the complaint, the decision of the head of the Department of Public Services, concerning the complaint, remains applicable.
3. A borrower cannot appeal against a decision of the librarian, unless the decision concerns an appeal related to Other Stipulations, point 5.

1. You are to follow the instructions of library staff.
2. The librarian (or his or her deputy) has the right to exclude borrowers who do not follow the stipulations of these regulations from (temporarily) using the library. You will be notified of the exclusion from borrowing by a registered letter from the librarian.
3. The Utrecht University Library is responsible for the protection of the personal data of its users, according to the rules and conditions as stated in the Algemene verordening gegevensbescherming (AVG) (in Dutch).
4. In cases not covered by these regulations, the librarian or his deputy decides. The librarian is authorized to depart from these regulations if necessary.
5. If a borrower is excluded from borrowing and/or denied access to the library, the borrower may appeal to the Executive Board.