Sutton Free Library
Interlibrary Loan Policy

8.1 INTERLIBRARY LOAN POLICY
Interlibrary loan is a transaction in which SFL borrows materials directly from another library on
behalf of a patron, or another library borrows materials from SFL on behalf of their patron.
Sutton Free Library is committed to the principles of InterLibrary Loan (ILL) set out in the New
Hampshire InterLibrary Loan Protocol Manual. Except as set out below, the Library does not
charge fees to its patrons or to borrowing libraries for InterLibrary Loan service. The Library
complies with all copyright laws with respect to photocopies. Materials may be delivered by the
state library’s van service, by mail, or in person.

 

8.2 INTERLIBRARY BORROWING
All SFL cardholders in good standing may participate in interlibrary loan. Staff will request
materials not owned by the library or missing from the library's collection, or materials owned by
the library that are in the process of being repaired and are temporarily unavailable. Materials
that will not be requested include items owned by the library but temporarily in use by other
patrons and electronic full-text information available to the library via the Internet. Multiple
copies of a title may be requested by the library to support local book discussion groups.

SFL will attempt to borrow from libraries that do not charge fees and will request notification of
fees from lending libraries before materials are shipped. When fees are unavoidable, patrons
will be given the option of paying the fees or canceling the request. SFL will not pay borrowing
fees or special charges in order to obtain an interlibrary loan item.

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Materials obtained through InterLibrary Loan are lent to Sutton Free Library’s patrons for a
period specified by the lending library. Renewals may be possible within the loan periods
granted by lending libraries. The Library will restrict materials to in-house use if requested by
lending libraries.

When a patron has lost or damaged a book that Sutton Free Library has borrowed through the
InterLibrary Loan program, it is the sole responsibility of the borrower to reimburse the cost of
the replacement book and processing fee if applicable. The Library will report the loss to the
lending library and arrange for the payment from the patron to be sent to the lending library. The
lending library determines the replacement cost.

 

8.3 INTERLIBRARY LENDING
SFL will promptly lend available materials to other New Hampshire and United States libraries
upon request, except for materials in use by SFL’s patrons, newly purchased material, or certain
rare local materials that do not circulate. Materials loaned to other libraries will be allowed a loan
period of six to ten weeks, and may be renewed for another four weeks if there are no local
requests for the materials. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the library director.

 

Adopted by the Trustees of the Sutton Free Library, July 22, 2026.