On-site reading, loans, renewals, reservations at the Humanities Library

Books and journals on open shelves are freely accessible.

In the Humanities branch there are specialised reading rooms including philosophy, history, Italian studies, Neolatin languages, foreign languages, classic philology and ancient history, archeology, Middle Ages and Renaissance, linguistics, Oriental studies, Scandinavian languages and the Rare Books Room, to access archival and special collections items.

The majority of the collections in the libraries of Education, Psychology and Philosophy are on open shelves.  

For books held in closed deposits users must fill out a borrowing slip and request items at the loans desks. In all branches historical paper catalogues are also available. 

Some documents, due to their rare, valuable, damaged or special status have limited access in a reserved reading room. 

Loans

In the Humanities branch loans are suspended during the lunch break between 1 and 2 pm. It is still possible to return and renew books as well as ask information. 

In the Education branch during the lunch break between 1 and 2 pm loans are limited to those items on open shelves and those with call numbers starting with DEP. 

• Hours
• Who is entitled to borrow
• Items not available for loan
• Loans duration and renewals
• Self check-out counter
• Overnight and public holiday loans
• Penalties

Hours

Loans are possible during opening hours of each branch.

Items not available for loan

• reference and frequent use items: cyclopedias, dictionaries, etc
• indices, bibliographies
• manuscripts, ancient, rare, valuable and autographed materials
• books published before 1915 included

Loans duration and renewals

Most items can be borrowed for one month with two renewals possible unless they are recalled by another user. Below a scheme illustrating the different possibliities according to user status and type of material.

 

	Modern books from 1916 and bound journals	Modern books from the Humanities reading rooms	Modern books published before 1915 and unbound journals	Archival, rare and antique materials
Students, interns, tech/admin staff, external users	up to 6 books, for a total of 12 volumes for 1 month renewable, or 1 week (journals)	with specific authorisation only: 10 days, non renewable	on-site reading only	on-site reading only
Teaching staff, researchers, readers	up to 18 books, for a total of 23 volumes for 2 months renewable, or 1 week (journals)	with specific authorisation only: 10 days, non renewable	on-site reading only	on-site reading only
Research fellows, grant students, doctoral candidates and subject specialists	up to 13 books, for a total of 18 volumes for 1 month renewable, or 1 week (journals)	with specific authorisation only: 10 days, non renewable	on-site reading only	on-site reading only

Renewals can be done online by logging into My account in OneSearch o by phoning the library branch where the items was borrowed from.

Self check-out counter

In the Education branch there is a self check-out counter for loans and returns.

Overnight and public holiday loans

All items not available for standard loan (except for those listed in art. 7 of the Regulations) can be borrowed overnight or over the weekend. A maximum of 2 books can be taken out one hour prior to closing time. Items must be returned by 10 am on the next business day.

Penalties

Users must return items by the due date. Late returns will incur in suspension from borrowing for a number of days equal to the days the loan was outstanding. The suspension is automatically calculated by the system.