Borrowing at Other University Libraries

The Australia university libraries have an agreement in place called University Libraries Australia (ULA) which enables university staff and students to visit libraries other than their home library and borrow materials from the collections.

To date, this scheme has not applied universally for University of Notre Dame staff and students but recently that has changed, most notably in Western Australia, where staff and students have access to both UWA and Curtin University.

Each library determines what you can borrow and for how long. These conditions are on the websites for these libraries and is likely to be listed under 'reciprocal borrowing'. You will find that these libraries may provide some limited access to electronic resources such as databases, eJournals and ebooks at the libraries, but they do not provide off-campus access to these services due to licence restrictions.

Before visiting another university library please check our website for information about how to access services. In WA you need to register online before you visit the library you wish to borrow from. In NSW you will find that you may need to pay a registration fee to borrow.

Any item borrowed from these other libraries is subject to fines and charges if it is not returned on time, damaged or lost. Borrowers will be held liable for these costs.

Library Loans - Pre-Overdue Notifications

As of Thursday 27th August the Library will be able to send email pre-overdue notifications for all library loans.

These email notices will be sent to your University email account and will be sent three days before your loans are due to be returned. The email will list the items borrowed and the date they are due.

It is worth noting that the issue or non-issue of a pre-overdue notice doesn’t remove the obligation on you to honour the borrowing contract you have entered into with the Library. You should use this prompt to ensure that the materials are returned by the due date or to request a renewal of the loan. Renewals are only possible where the item is not yet overdue and cannot be obtained on short term loans (reserve, 3-day and 7-day loans).

You can request a renewal of the loan(s) in a number of ways:

• By accessing the my account function in the Library Portal
• By contacting the library you borrowed the materials from
• By attending one of the libraries with your Staff Card

There is additional information about borrowing on the Library web pages and in the Library FAQs service .

Reciprocal Borrowing at University of Sydney

Staff and Students at the Sydney Campus will be interested to hear that the University of Sydney Library has recently advised us that they are happy to register you as a reciprocal borrower.  This has been negotiated under the University Libraries Australia (ULA) scheme.

Reciprocal borrowing provides basic borrowing services to current staff and students of each University at the Library of the other University.

The University of Sydney Library provides information about how to register on their website .  The Library charges reciprocal borrowers an annual registration fee of $50.00. This cost must be carried by the applicant and will not be reimbursed by the University of Notre Dame Library.

The University of Sydney Library will impose fines on overdue loans and will contact use about resources which are not returned or which are returned damaged. Borrowers will be liable for these costs and we will contact you directly to ensure this matter is resolved promptly.

The ULA scheme is based on goodwill between universities and can be withdrawn if the relationship is not operating smoothly.  We urge all library users to abide by all of the conditions imposed by the library you borrow from.

As it stands we have no such agreement with University of New South Wales but we are in ongoing discussions with them about this.  You can register to borrow at either of the NSW campuses of the Australian Catholic University.

See our Reciprocal Borrowing Page for more details.