College and Research Libraries


DAVID J. NETZ 

Faculty Loan Policies in 

Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana 

A survey was made to determine the circulation policies for faculty 
in the college and university libraries of Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio; 
to determine whether or not they seemed to be satisfactory; and to 
elicit suggestions on how faculty loan policies could be improved. 
The respondents were divided into two statistical groups according to 
size of enrollment-larger institutions (over 1,500) and smaller institu-
tions (under 1,500). The survey revealed that increasing enrollments 
and expanding research functions on campuses are necessitating more 
efficient control of library materials which historically has been ham-
pered by lax faculty circulation policies. 

BECAUSE OF THE DEARTH of professional 
literature concerning the many ramifica-
tions of academic library circulation pol-
icies, a study of faculty loan policies 
was initiated. The purpose of this sur-
vey was to determine what circulation 
policies existed for faculty in the college 
and university libraries of Indiana, 
Michigan, and Ohio; to determine 
whether the systems used seemed to be 
satisfactory; and to elicit suggestions on 
how they could be improved. The sur-
vey was based on all institutions of high-
er learning in the three states which ap-
peared in the Education Directory 1965-
66-Higher Education, and were listed 
as having North Central Association of 
Colleges and Secondary Schools accred-
itation. The total number of question-
naires sent was 128. Of these, 105 were 
returned, which constituted 82 per cent 
of the total survey. Two returns were 
not complete enough to tabulate, so the 

This survey was undertaken jointly with 
Mrs. Kathryn Blackwood. Mr. N etz is on 
the library staff at Dordt College, Sioux 
Center, Iowa. 

following tables are based on a total of 
103 questionnaires. Fifty-six institutions 
requested copies of the results of the 
survey, indicating rather widespread 
interest in the problem of faculty circu-
lation policies. 

The questionnaire consisted entirely 
of open-ended questions which were de-
signed to elicit answers based on indi-
vidual opinions-there were no "right" 
or "wrong" answers. The questionnaire 
was similar in structure to one used in a 
1963 nationwide random survey by Bob-
inski.l ~ 

The respondents have been divided 
for statistical tabulation according to 
size of enrollment, which provided the 
most accessible criterion for common 
problems. 2 The larger institutions were 
considered to be the fifty-nine schools 
with enrollments over one thousand five 
hundred. The smaller institutions were 
the forty-four schools with enrollments 
under one thousand five hundred. 3 Also 
included in this group were all junior 

(t Footnotes are listed at the e nd of this 
article. 

I 45 



46 I College & Research Libraries • January 1969 

colleges, regardless of size, because their 
lack of research facilities and less com-
prehensive academic programs tended 
to make their problems similar to those 
of the smaller institutions. 

STATISTICAL RESULTS 4 

1. Is there a written policy statement in 
your library concerning faculty loan 
regulation? 

LI 
SI 
Total 

TABLE 1 
PERCENTAGE HAVING WRITTEN 

PoLicY STATEMENTS 

Yes 

49% (29) 
27% (12) 
40% (41) 

No 

51% (30) 
73% (32) 
60% (62) 

It should be pointed out that the ma-
jority of written policy statements were 
included in faculty manuals or universi-
ty handbooks, rather than in formal, ad-
ministrative policy statements of the li-
brary. Also, the large number of nega-
tive answers is quite surprising, since 
this apparently indicates that this im-
portant public relations operation is han-
dled by word-of-mouth or on a common-
understanding basis. 

2. How long do books circulate to facul-
. ty members? 

Although a majority (55 per cent) of 
the librarians indicated some type of 
specified loan period for faculty mem-
bers, in many cases these loan periods 
were indefinite because of the lack 
of enforcement of faculty regulations. 
Therefore it appears that more than 65 
per cent of the libraries have little or no 

control over the length of time that a 
faculty member may have library ma-
terial in his possession. 

3. What is the faculty loan policy and 
period for the following? 
(This question concerned various 

types of special materials: e.g., periodi-
cal, reference, reserve, and microprint 
materials.) The results of this question 
varied greatly and tended to indicate 
that special materials were handled on 
an individualized basis, according to the 
needs of the particular institution. 

4. Are faculty members subject to an 
overdue fine? 

LI 
SI 
Total 

TABLE 4 5 

PERCENTAGE OF FACULTY MEMBERS 

SuBJECT TO OvERDUE FINES 

Yes No 

5% (3 ) 
9% (4) 
7% (7) 

95% (56 ) 
9 1% (40 ) 
93% (96 ) 

Concerning the imposition of fines up-
on faculty members, there seems to be 
almost unanimous agreement. Even the 
few libraries which did have fines for 
faculty members stated that these fines 
were of a theoretical nature, on special 
materials only, or seldom enforced. 
Many librarians, however, did indicate 
a desire to initiate a strict fine system 
for faculty violations of what the librar-
ians viewed as liberal loan policies. 

5. After what period of time is material 
recalled if wanted by another faculty 
member? 

TABLE 2 
LENGTH OF FACULTY CIRCULATION BERIOD 

LI 
SI 
Total 

Indefinite 

36% (21) 
57% (25) 
45% (46) 

Academic 
Period 

32% (19) 
27% (12) 
30% (3 1 ) 

Less than 
A cad. 

Annual Per. 

2.7 % (16) 5% (3 ) 
7% ( 3) 9% (4 ) 

18% (19) 7% (7 ) 



Faculty Loan Policies I 41 

TABLE 5a 
RECALL TIME FOR MATERIAL WANTED BY FACULTY 

LI 
SI 
Total 

If wanted by a student? 

2-4 weeks 

54% (32) 
41% (18) 
48% (50) 

Immediate 

36% (21) 
39% (19) 
37% (38) 

Not recalled 

8% ( 5) 
20% ( 9) 
14% (14) 

No reply 

2% (1) 

1% (1) 

TABLE 5b 
RECALL TIME FOR MATERIAL WANTED BY STUDENTS 

LI 
SI 
Total 

2-4 weeks 

53% (31) 
39% (17) 
47% (48) 

Eighty-one out of the 102 who replied 
stated that no differentiation was made 
in recalling materials for faculty or for 
students. In studying the responses, 
however, one can see that the existing 
recall services definitely favor the facul-
ty. For instance, in the institutions 
which reported a policy of not recalling 
material 14 per cent would not do so 
for faculty while 22 per cent would not 
perform this service for students. In the 
smaller institutions such comments as 
"tough luck for the students" exemplified 
a prevalent attitude among the librar-
ians. This can also be verified by the 
fact that 32 per cent of the smaller in-
stitutions did not have a material-recall 
service for the students. This factor of 
no recall coupled with the disparity of 
loan periods for faculty .and students 
certainly indicates the element of stu-
dent discrimination in existing circula-
tion policies. Finally, a contributing fac-

Immediate 

32% ( 19) 
29% (13) 
31% (32) 

Not recalled 

13% ( 8) 
32% ( 14) 
22% (21) 

No reply 

2% (1) 

1% (1) 

tor in the frustration caused by the ex-
isting recall procedures is the failure of 
the librarians to communicate effective-
ly to the students the nature of their re-
call privileges. 

6. What percentage of recalls do you 
estimate were returned within a rea-
sonable time? 
Even though the concept of "a rea-

sonable time" was based on a subjective 
decision of each respondent, the majori-
ty of librarians indicated a high degree 
of faculty cooperation in the return of 
recalled materials. The larger institutions 
seemed to have greater problems in this 
area of recall, and those with the great-
est problems were definitely the large 
universities, as indicated by the fact 
that in the case of the institutions re-
porting less than 75 per cent coopera-
tion, all six of the "larger institutions" 
were in the large university category. 

TABLE 6 

LI 
SI 
Total 

PERCENTAGE OF RECALLS RETURNED WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME 

90-100% 

60% (35) 
68% (30) 
63 % (65) 

75-89% 

25% (15) 
16% ( 7) 
21 % (22) 

Less than 7 5% 

10% ( 6) 
11 % ( 5) 
11 % (11) 

No reply 

5% (3) 
5% (2) 
5% (5) 



48 I College & Research Libraries • January 1969 

TABLE 7a 
INITIAL PROCEDURE TO RETRIEVE NoN-RETURNED MATERIAL FROM FAcULTY 

LI 
SI 
Total 

Written notice Phone call 

75% (44) 
64% (28) 
70% (72) 

8% (5) 
2% (1) 
6% (9) 

Personal 

3% (2) 
16% (7) 
9% (9) 

Other 

12% ( 7) 
11% ( 5) 
11% (12) 

No reply 

2% (1) 
7 % (3) 
4 % (4) 

TABLE 7b 
FoLLOW-uP PROCEDURE TO RETRIEVE NoN-RETURNED MATERIAL FROM FAcuLTY 

Phone call Personal Written notice Invoice 
Contact 
superior Other No reply 

LI 
SI 
Total 

30% ( 18) 
16% ( 7) 
24 % (25) 

20% (12) 
45% (20) 
31 % (32) 

12% ( 7) 
9% ( 4) 

11% (11) 

7. What procedure is used to retrieve 
library material not returned by fac-
ulty at the end of the specified loan 
period? (Initial contact) 

After material has been recalled and 
not returned? (Second contact) 

Written notices predominated ( 70 per 
cent) as the method of initial notifica-
tion of non-returned material. Follow-
up in the smaller libraries was usually 
done on a personal basis-either by 
phone or face-to-face. Although person-
al contact, including face-to-face con-
frontations and phone calls, was also 
used extensively (50 per cent) by the 
larger institutions for second contact, 
there was a trend ( 30 per cent) toward 
more disciplinary action among both 
groups. Some of the more stringent ac-
tions included the withholding of pay 
checks, and notification of department 
chairmen concerning the delinquency of 
the faculty members with library ma-
terials. A unique approach to this prob-
lem was the inclusion of accounts of 
faculty irresponsibility with library ma-
terials in the permanent records of the 
individual. This problem of material re-
trieval has by no means been effectively 
solved, however, as indicated by one li-
brarian who expressed his procedures as 

9% (5) 
5 % (2) 
7 % (7) 

7 % (4) 
7 % (3) 
7 % ( 7) 

20% (12) 
11% ( 5) 
16% (17) 

2% (1) 
7 % ( 3) 
4% (4) 

"We cry a lot," which seemed to express 
the sentiment of others. 

8. Is there dissent or dissatisfaction 
voiced by the student body concern-
ing your present faculty loan regula-
tions? 

TABLE 8 
STUDENT DISSENT CoNCERNING FACULTY 

LoAN REGULATIONS 

LI . 
SI 
Total 

Yes 

21 % (12) 
7% ( 3) 

15% ( 15) 

No 

79% (47) 
91 % (40) 
84% (87) 

No reply 

2% (1) 
1% (1) 

Student dissent was significantly 
greater in the larger institutions ( 21 per 
cent as compared with 7 per cent for 
the smaller schools), especially in the 
universities where there were vocal 
graduate students. Complaints of dis-
crimination in lending practices and 
faculty abuse of library privileges were 
often cited by the students. One institu-
tion in particular was in the midst of a 
major student protest against faculty 
·abuses. These protests were expressed 
by means of student newspaper ex-
poses and vehement editorials. 

9. Are there complaints on the part of 
faculty members concerning loan reg-
ulations imposed upon them? 



LI . 
SI 
Total 

TABLE 9 
FACULTY COMPLAINTS CONCERNING 

LOAN REGULATIONS 

Yes 

24% (14) 
14% ( 6) 
19% (20) 

No 

73 % (43) 
84% (37) 
78% (80) 

No reply 

3% (2) 
2% (1) 
3% (3) 

A greater percentage of the faculty of 
the larger schools ( 24 per cent) than 
the smaller schools ( 14 per cent) tend-
ed toward open criticism of their col-
leagues' abuse of library privileges and 
stated a desire for more effective faculty 
circulation regulations. On the other 
hand, some faculty members were per-
sonally affronted by the laborious task 
of checking library materials in their 
possession for annual inventories. 

10. What changes, if any, have been 
made in your faculty circulation 
policies during the last few years? 

TABLE 10 
CHANGEs IN FACULTY CrncuLA noN PoLICIES 

LI 
SI 
Total 

Yes No 

49% (29) 
27% (12) 
40% (4 1) 

51% (30) 
73% (32) 
60% (62) 

The comments included with this 
question indicated that there have been 
recent attempts to revise faculty circu-
lation policies. A much greater propor-
tion of the changes in the larger institu-
tions ( 49 per cent versus 27 per cent) 
seems to indicate a more pressing need 
for coping with increasing enrollments 
and growing demands upon all library 
facilities. The trend of these changes is 
definitely toward greater control of ma-
terials ." This trend has manifested itself 
in limited loan periods, periodic library 
inventories, exclusion of faculty families 
from extended privileges, and stricter 
enforcement of library regulations con-
cerned with faculty loan privileges. Only 
five of the forty-one librarians ( 12 per 

Faculty Loan Policies I 49 

cent) who reported changes in faculty 
circulation policies stated that the 
change was toward liberalization of 
regulations. 

11. Are you, as librarian, satisfied with 
your present policies concerning fac-
ulty loans? 

TABLE 11 
LIBRARIANS SATISFIED WITH PRESENT FACULTY 

LoAN PoLICIES 

LI . 
SI 
Total 

Yes No 

61 % (36) 
86% (38) 
72% (74) 

39% (23) 
14% ( 6) 
28% (29) 

Librarians in smaller institutions seem 
to have significantly fewer problems 
with faculty circulation than those in the 
larger schools. Most were satisfied with 
their present circumstances concerning 
faculty loans ( 86 per cent) and attrib-
uted this to the small number of faculty 
members with whom they had frequent 
personal contact. Most of the problems 
which were mentioned at smaller insti-
tutions concerned the abuse of library 
privileges by a small minority within the 
faculty. Within the larger institutions, 
however, there was a greater expression 
of dissatisfaction by the librarians. This 
dissatisfaction was strongly expressed 
by one librarian at a large university: 

No, I am not satisfied. No distinction 
should be made between faculty and stu-
dents. The same loan privileges should be 
accorded to all persons eligible to use the 
academic library. The insistence of the 
professoriate that they are a race apart is 
a relic of the Middle Ages. The seques-
tration of library materials for long periods 
of time in faculty offices or homes is in-
tolerable. Furthermore, such permissive-
ness works against them quite as much as 
it works against students. Academic li-
braries must be able to control their col-
lections, for only with control can they 
satisfy the entire university community. 

Although the preceding statement is 



50 I College & Research Libraries • January 1969 

more verbose than the average response, 
in reviewing the results of the survey it 
is apparent that the population explo-
sion on college campuses and the ex-
panding research functions of the col-
lege and university library are necessi-
tating more efficient control of materials 
in order to meet the demands of schol-
arship by all library users. Faculty cen· 
sure by administrative action in cases of 
habitual abuse of library privileges, 
stricter overdue and recall policies, es-
tablishment of unilateral circulation pol-
icies for all members of the academic 
community, and the desire for other 
forms of stricter control of library ma-
terials were cited as means of increasing 
library service for all academic library 
patrons. 

There seems to be a general lack of 
control in the existing faculty circulation 
policies, as shown by ineffective recall 
procedures and unlimited loan periods 
for faculty. There is a growing aware-
ness by librarians that the availability of 
library materials must be assured for 
every member of the academic commu-
nity. From the various responses of the 
librarians it seems that the smaller li-
braries have not yet felt the research-
oriented taxing of library resources, and 
thus the librarians of smaller institutions 
Jimit their criticism of circulation prob-

lems to a minority abuse by faculty, 
rather than to the entire system of facul-
ty privilege. On the other hand, many 
large university libraries are facing vary-
ing stages of crisis in their attempts to 
maintain good public relations with all 
segments of the academic population, a 

. result of the unrealistic concept of non-
controlled circulation of library materials 
by f~lCulty members. Currently there is 
no universal circulation policy for all 
the academic libraries of this country. 
Therefore, constant awareness of the 
changing needs of the academic com-
munity must dictate the library circula-
tion policies for each institution, and 
every policy must assure the availability 
of the library's resources to all patrons. 

•• 
NOTES 

1 George S. Bobinski, "Survey of Faculty Loan Pol-
icies," College & Research Libraries, XXIV (November 
1963)' 483-86. 

~ A second alternative would have been to divide the 
respondents by the size of their library holdings. How-
ever, this information was not available at the time 
that the results of this survey were tabulated. 

3 Although the enrollment of 1,500 was an arbitrary 
choice as the dividing point between the two size 
groups, the writer defends its validity on the basis 
that it presents a representative picture of the similarity 
of distribution between the sample ( 103 institutions) 
and the universe ( 128 institutions). 

4 Results are in terms of percentage for each cate-
gory. Number in parentheses represents total responses 
for each cell. LI = Larger Institutions. SI = Smaller 
Institutions. 

5 There is no Table III, due to non-tabulation of 
question 3.