Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program

The Program

To promote and facilitate scholarly research and communication among members of their faculties, the university research libraries (members of the Association of Research Libraries) of OCLC have established a program to provide broader access to scholarly materials. Under the aegis of the Research Libraries Advisory Committee to OCLC (RLAC), the libraries have developed an agreement to extend library privileges to faculty members of other research universities that are ARL members.

How Faculty Participate

Materials may be used on the premises of the owning library or may be borrowed, depending on the policies of the lending library. Privileges vary from institution to institution. Faculty members intending to visit a participating library should ask their home libraries to check online in the OCLC Name-Address Directory for the limitations and relevant policies and practices of the prospective lending library.

A faculty member from an institution participating in the Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program may request a Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program card from the home library. To borrow materials, the visiting faculty member must present the Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program card and any other identification the lending library requires at the main campus library of any participating institution.

It is the Responsibility of the Faculty Member to:

  • Ask the home library to check the OCLC online Name-Address Directory record for information pertinent to the institution they plan to visit.
  • Present identification when requesting a Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program card from the home library and show that card, along with other required identification, when borrowing materials from another library.
  • Observe the regulations of the lending library.
  • Return materials, in person or by mail, within the loan period prescribed by the lending library.
  • Return materials immediately, in person or by express mail, if recalled by the lending library.
  • Pay all fines or other charges incurred due to late return of materials or damage to materials.

Please note that this is a program of privileges. At its discretion, a participating institution may suspend the privileges of its own faculty members or of the faculty members of another participating institution.