Borrowing Policies

Our borrowing policies are in place to ensure equitable access to library resources for students, faculty, and staff. If you have any questions about borrowing policies, please contact the Information/Checkout Desk or email a librarian. 

Students, faculty, and staff with active Sonoma State accounts can borrow library materials with a Seawolf ID card. 

If you are not a current student, faculty member, or staff member, please visit our Community Members page for information about how to sign up for a library account. 

For information about laptops and other equipment, please read Borrow a Laptop or Borrow Equipment. 

Some materials do not circulate and cannot be used outside the library building, including most items in the Regional collection, Special Collections, current journals and magazines, microfilm, and current reference. Please ask at the Information/Checkout Desk if you're not sure if you can borrow an item. 

Current students, faculty, and staff can borrow up to 100 books at a time and up to 8 media items.

Community members can borrow up to 10 books at a time and up to 8 media items.

Most circulating items do not incur overdue fines, with the following exceptions:

• Course Reserves: Hourly course reserves incur a $1/hour overdue fine. One-day reserves incur a $5/day overdue fine. 
• Most circulating equipment incurs overdue fines. Please see the Borrow a Laptop or Borrow Equipment pages for more details. 

Overdue fines are only charged during the hours and days when the library is open. Items returned when the library is closed will be checked in on the next open day. 

Reserves and library equipment should be returned to the Information/Checkout Desk to ensure they are received and checked in. Any reserves or library equipment returned to a book drop may not be checked in on time and overdue fines may be charged. You are responsible for ensuring that items are returned to the library by the date and time they are due. 

Overdue fines are NOT waived when items are returned. There is a one-hour grace period for hourly reserves, but no grace period for one-day reserves. Please return reserves prompty to ensure they are available for other students. 

Lost Item Replacement Fees

You will be charged a Lost Item Replacement Fee for any item that is more than 30 days overdue. These fees will be removed from your account when items are returned. The amount of Lost Item Replacement Fees varies, but most are $50 per item. 

Paying Fines and Fees

You can pay library fines and fees at the Information/Checkout Desk. When fines for students, faculty, and staff are over $250, they are sent to Financial Services. 

If you have any questions about library fines, contact the Information/Checkout Desk or email circdesk@sonoma.edu. 

Your account will be blocked after you have accumulated too many fines and fees or when you have reached the limit for loans and overdue items, whichever comes first.

We reserve the right to block your account for any violation of library or Sonoma State University policies. 

If you have lost or damaged an item that you borrowed from the library, you will be charged a Lost Item Replacement Fee of $50 or more. These fees cover not only the cost of the replacement item but additional costs for cataloging and processing. 

In some cases, lost item replacement fees may be waived if you provide a replacement copy to the library. Before purchasing a replacement copy, you must contact the Collection Development Librarian, Laura Krier, at (707) 664-2459 or by email at laura.krier@sonoma.edu. The librarian will work with you to identify an acceptable replacement copy. 

All replacement copies must be approved by the Collection Development Librarian before the loan and associated fees are removed from your account. Communicating with the librarian prior to purchasing a copy will ensure that you do not spend money on a copy that we will not accept. We reserve the right to refuse to accept any copies that do not meet our replacement copy standards. 

We do not accept replacement copies of videos or DVDs. If a video or a DVD is lost or damaged you must pay the replacement fee. 

All replacement copies must be received within three months of the date that the Lost Item Replacement Fee was added to your account. You can see all loan and fee details by logging into your library account. 

The library sends email notifications when: 

• Your checked-out items are overdue.
• Your checked-out items have been marked as Lost and a Lost Item Replacement Fee has been charged to your account.
• Requested items have been received and are available to be picked up or downloaded.

Please check your spam folder, as some email servers mark library emails as spam. Email notifications are a courtesy only. You are responsible for ensuring that library materials are returned. You can always check the status of your loans and requests by logging into your library account in OneSearch.