Policies

[Revised 12/28/2010]

Materials checked out after January 1, 2011 that become overdue will be assessed a daily fine of $0.10 per item. Users have a three-day grace period to return overdue materials. On the fourth day, fines will be imposed for every day the item is overdue, including the grace period.

The following groups of individuals are eligible for direct borrowing privileges from the State Library of Louisiana. In all cases, a signed registration form must be on file with the State Library of Louisiana before service can begin.

Information, reference, and loan services of the state library are available direct to:

state elected and appointed officials and state employees including those who are retired;
members of the Louisiana public information media accredited by the Louisiana Press Association or the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters;
officers and employees of agencies listed in the Louisiana State Government Directory;
students and faculty members of the Louisiana State University Graduate School of Library and Information Science;
all public, academic, special, and state institutional libraries whether in or outside of the state;
State Library of Louisiana Board of Commissioners.

Most materials in the library collection of the State Library may be borrowed. Rare books, paper copies of newspapers, Louisiana vertical file pieces, full multi-volume sets, reference materials, and some genealogy materials are not loaned. The audiovisual collection and materials for the blind and physically handicapped have loan restrictions.

A maximum of 25 items may be charged to a borrower’s account at any given time. Five reels of microfilm may be borrowed at one time in person or through interlibrary loan. Staff will pull seven periodicals from the backfiles at one time. The normal loan period for materials is 28 days. Materials with reserves are loaned for 21 days. Materials may be renewed twice for a total loan period of 84 days. Renewals will not be made on materials with reserves.

Books and other materials are loaned free of charge. Patrons registered with the State Library are financially responsible for lost or damaged materials that have been charged out to their account. Effective January 1, 2011, a $25.00 per item processing fee will be added to the replacement cost of all lost or damaged items. If an item is returned within the same fiscal year in which it was lost and paid, then the user is entitled to a refund of the replacement charge. No refund is available after the end of the fiscal year.

Borrowing libraries are responsible for the cost of lost or damaged material from the time it leaves the State Library until it is received back at the State Library.

Collection Development Policy

The Collection Development Policy is a guide for the staff responsible for selection of library materials for the State Library of Louisiana and an explanation to users of the collection about how materials are selected. It is subject to ongoing review and revision.

Conditions Governing Rights and Reproductions

Requests for reproductions of objects to which the State Library of Louisiana holds the title may be made for scholarly, noncommercial purposes, or for sale or commercial purposes. Reproduction rights in any medium must be obtained in writing from the State Library prior to reproduction. All requests must meet U.S. copyright laws (USC title 17)

Reproduction Policies
Requests for reproductions must be made in writing to State Library of Louisiana, Louisiana Department, P.O. Box 131 Baton Rouge, LA 70802. All requests for permission to reproduce must include complete details as to the intended use.

Reproduction for scholarly, non-commercial purposes requires approval of the Coordinator of the Louisiana Department of the State Library. Reproduction for sale or commercial purposes requires the approval of the Deputy State Librarian or designee.

Fees to recover costs may be charged for reproduction rights for any collection object to which the State Library has title, unless waived by the State Library.

Fees, must be paid in advance with checks made by payable to State Library of Louisiana. Failure to pay the required fees for reproduction means that permission has not been granted. Paid fees are non-refundable.

The reproduction may be used only once and only for the purpose for which permission was granted. Single use is defined as a publication or product having a single physical format, a single date of production, and a single market. Any subsequent editions, editions in a different physical format, or editions in a different language constitute a re-use and a new application must be made in writing.

Permission is valid only for the individual, company, or institution to whom it is specifically issued, and may not be transferred assigned, sold, or otherwise disposed of without written permission from the State Library.

Each object must be reproduced unaltered and in its entirety, unless approved in advance and in writing by the State Library. If so requested on this form, a proof must be approved by the State Library of Louisiana before reproduction of an image in color.

The publisher must provide the State Library with two complete, gratis copies of the publication in which the image is reproduced, and notify the State Library of any public screening, initial broadcast, or publication dates. Purchasing reproductions for study or research purposes does not imply the right to publish or reproduce.

Copyright and Title
The State Library of Louisiana will only grant permission to reproduce objects which are in the public domain, or for which the State Library is the owner of Copyright or trademark.

The State Library of Louisiana makes no warranties or representations, and assumes no responsibility whatsoever for claims against the applicant or State Library by artists, their agents, estates, or by any parties in connection with the reproduction of objects in the State Library’s collections. The applicant agrees to protect, defend, indemnify, save and hold harmless the State Library of Louisiana against any and all such claims, including Copyright infringement claims, trademark infringement claims, invasion of privacy claims, publicity claims, moral rights claims, and royalty or fee demands and/or actions, including all attorneys fees and the costs thereof, arising as a result of the applicant’s reproduction of objects in the State Library’s collections, or which may occur or in any way grow out of any act or omission of the applicant, its agents, servants, and employees. The applicant agrees to investigate, handle, respond to, provide defense for, and defend any such claims, demands, or suits at its sole expense and agrees to bear all other costs and expenses related thereto, even if it is groundless, false or fraudulent. Any and all royalty payments or other requirements specified by the Copyright owner of an object must be paid or honored by the applicant of his/her agent.

In authorizing the publication, the State Library of Louisiana retains all rights, and does not surrender its right to publish the image or to grant permission to others to do so.

Notice: Warning Concerning Copyright Restrictions
The Copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of Copyright material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purposes other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use” that user may be liable for Copyright infringement. The State Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of Copyright law.

Rights of Privacy
An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR Section 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). The State Library of Louisiana reserves the right to require a release from individuals whose privacy may be violated by the reproduction.

Use of the Name of State Library of Louisiana
The name of State Library of Louisiana may only be used by the requestor as specified in the credit line provided by the State Library. The name of the State Library of Louisiana may not be used in any way that suggests or implies an endorsement by the State Library of other organizations, their products, or their services. The use of the State Library of Louisiana’s name for any commercial purposes is prohibited without express written permission from the State Librarian.

Right of Refusal
The State Library of Louisiana reserves the right to refuse reproduction if in the best interest of the State Library, or to limit the number of photographic copies.

The State Library of Louisiana reserves the right to deny permission to reproduce an image from its collection to any applicant whose product is not acceptable to the State Library for any reason. The applicant agrees to use the materials for appropriate and legal purposes.

Negative—Transparencies—Prints—Digital Images
All negatives and transparencies remain the property of the State Library and may not be removed from the premises.

Copy prints, negatives, or transparencies provided by the State Library to the requestor may not be digitized without written permission from the State Library. In the event such permission is granted, any Copyright in digital surrogates of the image created by the requestor remains with the State Library and the requestor agrees to an unconditional transfer of Copyright to the State Library of Louisiana.

Electronic Distribution of Images
When permission is granted to disseminate reproductions electronically, the State Library reserves the right to require an electronic watermark or other identifying code within the scanned file identifying the State Library of Louisiana as owner of Copyright in the digitized image. Scanned files must be destroyed once the final product has been produced.

Credit Lines
The applicant agrees to comply with all written instructions regarding credit line or the use of the name State Library of Louisiana. The caption and credit line provided by the State Library must accompany the reproduction, either in the immediate proximity of the image or in the section devoted to photographic credits. Abbreviations are not permitted. It is mandatory that the image is credited as specified.

Electronic Access Policy

The mission of the State Library of Louisiana is to build an informed, literate and democratic society by ensuring access to informational, cultural, and recreational resources, especially those resources unique to Louisiana. The State Library subscribes to the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, Freedom to Read and the Freedom to View statements. The Library affords users unrestricted access to public information resources, subject to published principles of collection development, technological capabilities, and financial constraints. It is within this context that the State Library offers access to the Internet and other online electronic resources.

The Library staff provides assistance with the use of library resources, collections, and materials, including a basic introduction to electronic resources.

The Internet enables access to a wealth of valuable and reliable information from a variety of sources. However, it also provides access to information that may be inaccurate, controversial, personally offensive to the viewer, or inappropriate for children. The State Library of Louisiana is responsible only for data on those pages pertaining specifically to the State Library. Individual users must exercise judgment in evaluating the validity and appropriateness of information retrieved via the Internet and must assume personal responsibility for its use.

Parents, not the Library, are responsible for the use of library resources by their children. In compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act, children are not allowed to:

In order to access online resources at the State Library of Louisiana, the following conditions must be met:

The Library reserves the right to prohibit violators of these conditions of use from future access to the Library’s computers and online services.

Although the Library uses a program that checks for viruses, there is no guarantee that files downloaded from the Internet will not contain a virus. The State Library of Louisiana is not responsible for any damages that may arise from saving, downloading or emailing files.

Interlibrary Loan Policy

The State Library of Louisiana lends materials to public, academic and special libraries through interlibrary loan. Libraries that qualify for the service must be administered by a librarian or the equivalent, be organized to perform conventional library services, including circulation control, and must lend to other libraries.

Loans are restricted to libraries in educational institutions above secondary level. All requests for materials must be made electronically by OCLC or Loan Shark (Louisiana statewide interlibrary loan system for public libraries), or on approved interlibrary loan forms. Requesting libraries must comply with ALA National Interlibrary Loan Code (1994), the Louisiana Interlibrary Loan Code (adopted 1998), and all copyright regulations.

Louisiana institutional libraries and Louisiana state agency libraries may borrow materials if they meet the above qualifications except they are not required to lend materials to other libraries. Louisiana institutional libraries may serve clientele of secondary educational levels and lower. All institutional and state agency libraries must have filed with the State Library a letter of compliance signed by an official of the organization to which the library belongs, who has fiscal authority. In addition, an application form for State Library services must be completed, signed by the librarian, and returned to the State Library before service can begin.

The State Library will borrow library materials from other libraries for registered patrons and Louisiana public and institutional libraries. There is no charge for borrowing books. Because the State Library does not borrow complete issues of periodicals, requests for photocopies of specific articles are made in compliance with copyright regulations. Every attempt is made to obtain photocopies from lenders who do not charge for copies. There are times when the only lending library charges for its photocopying services; State Library patrons must agree to a $5.00 minimum charge for each photocopy request.

Many items in the State Library’s genealogy collection circulate and may be borrowed through interlibrary loan. Because of the spirit of reciprocity in the ILL code, State Library patrons and parish libraries may request that genealogical material not owned or not circulated by the State Library be borrowed through ILL. Since many libraries do not circulate their genealogy materials, it is wise to include a note in the request stating the name/names that the patron is researching. The lending library may be able to send a copy of the index to the book or photocopy pages pertaining to the desired name. As when requesting journal article photocopies, please state how much the patron is willing to pay for the copies. The minimum amount is usually $5.00.

Web Content Policy

In order to be useful to its patrons, the State Library of Louisiana offers this website:

The State Library of Louisiana Website is designed primarily to serve the following four types of patrons:

Also, there are two entities located in the State Library that have their web home on the State Library’s website:

The Louisiana Library Connection Databases consist of very costly electronic resources which are available to all Louisiana residents free of charge through the State Library of Louisiana. These databases are a wealth of information and include thousands of full-text magazines, newspapers and reference books. A Database Committee comprised of State Library and public library representatives reviews and recommends databases for selection.

There are also many free resources on the internet. The State Library has compiled a very selective list of useful web links which is used by the State Library’s reference librarians as a “ready reference” guide to the Internet. We believe these links might also be useful for public librarians, state employees and the general public.

Here are some guidelines used by the reference librarians in selecting these links:

Disclaimer
In the selection of Internet links, the State Library gives preference to non-commercial and not-for-profit sites.

The State Library provides this list of links as a convenience to patrons and does not control the content of sites outside of the State Library’s website. Therefore, the State Library cannot be responsible for any wrong or harmful information present on any of the sites on this link list.

Table of Contents:

Circulation Policy

Collection Development Policy

Conditions Governing Rights and Reproductions

Electronic Access Policy

Interlibrary Loan Policy

Web Content Policy