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Doctor of Ministry Library Portal

A guide to GCTS Library resources and policies for Doctor of Ministry students

Overdue Book Policy

In essence, the libraries do not charge overdue fees for the majority of circulating items (with the exception of overdue reserve items). This means that you will no longer be fined for books if they are simply overdue for a few days. It is not our desire to ‘charge’ anyone. It is our desire to see our collection get used to its fullest potential while protecting the collection’s integrity. To that end, the libraries focus effort on caring for the collection rather than collecting fines!

While we do not charge daily fines, once a book has been declared "long overdue" (as indicated below in Tab 2), the library does charge a substantial replacement fee and the student will then own the "long overdue" book.

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Click through the numbered tabs above to review the policy.

Overdue Items

Fines will no longer be collected for overdue items, with the exception of those items placed on Course Reserves.* (See Tab 3.)

Once an item is overdue:

  • Patrons with the overdue item will be sent four notices of their overdue items (once per week after the item is overdue).
  • All borrowing privileges for patrons with overdue items will be suspended.
  • All overdue items can be returned before the fourth notice without incurring any fines.
  • Once items have been returned, borrowing privileges will be restored.

*InterLibrary Loan books are an exception to this policy because they are not property of Gordon-Conwell. The library will pass on any fines or book replacement costs that have been levied by the lending library to patrons who may have lost, damaged, or kept overdue, the lending library's books.

Long Overdue Items

After the fourth notice (sent twenty-eight days after the items are overdue).

  • The items will be declared "long overdue" and essentially considered “lost." *
  • The patron will be charged a minimum of $100 for each item.
  • If the publisher’s suggested price of a single item exceeds $100, the patron will be charged the full price, plus a $15.00 processing fee.
  • These replacement charges will be sent to the seminary Accounting Office for collection.
  • The library will purchase replacement copies.
  • The patron will then “own” the items that have been declared lost.

*PLEASE NOTE: The library STRONGLY encourages patrons who actually lose items (or damage them beyond repair) to contact the library staff as soon as possible to explain the situation. The library has no desire to charge more than the cost of a quality replacement of the same edition in such cases.

Course Reserves:

Patrons with overdue Course Reserve materials will be charged $10.00 per item, per day. As is the current practice, any patron with a $10.00 fine will have borrowing privileges revoked.

Your Consent:

All students, staff, faculty and guest patrons of GCTS libraries must read and consent to the Overdue Book Policy before checking out any library items.

Please fill out the "Acknowledgment of the Overdue Book Policy" below.

Fill out my online form.