Reference Services Policy

General

The Glen Ellyn Public Library is committed to providing excellent reference service to all patrons, regardless of age, race, sex, disability, social or economic status.  Staff of the Adult Services and Youth Services Departments will assist patrons in the use of reference resources and library materials; provide current, accurate information in a timely manner; provide readers' advisory service; and provide interlibrary loan and supplementary reference services to Glen Ellyn cardholders.  Trained reference staff will provide reference service during all hours that the Library is open.  All reference questions will be treated with impartiality and confidentiality.

Scope

Reference service is defined as assisting patrons to locate materials that will provide needed information and/or providing answers to factual questions.  If determining the answer to a query involves reading and evaluating a large amount of material, the staff will locate suitable materials for the patron's use.  All answers will be factual and sources will be cited.  Staff may not offer personal opinion, advice or interpretation as fact.  In particular, staff is not legally qualified to offer legal, medical, and tax advice. Homework questions will be treated like all other questions, and staff will work with local schools to prepare for major assignments.

Priority

In order to provide effective service to all patrons in an equitable manner, certain priorities and limits have been established. Answering patron questions takes precedence over all other staff duties.  In general, in-person questions will take precedence over questions received by telephone, mail, via the Internet or other means, but all questions will receive a response within 24 hours. The time that can be spent on an individual question depends on whether other patrons or questions are waiting.  To insure that patrons do not have to wait too long for service, generally no more than 10 minutes will be spent with a patron while others are waiting. If the question cannot be answered within that time, the staff member will offer to continue the search and contact the patron with the answer later.

Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary loan is available to Glen Ellyn Public Library cardholders if the material needed is not available in the Library. The Library adheres to the State of Illinois Interlibrary Loan Code and therefore cannot request to borrow items of a type that we would not lend to another library.  Items not available through interlibrary loan will be considered for purchase for the Library's collection if they meet established criteria. 

It is suggested that patrons place no more than ten requests at a time.

Some direct costs for interlibrary loan, such as genealogical microfilm lending fees, will be passed on to the patron, with their prior consent.

Patrons will also pay a nominal fee for photocopies of articles obtained for them from other libraries.

Bibliographies and Other Finding Aids

Staff will regularly prepare bibliographies and other finding aids on subjects that are of general interest in the community and provide them to the public.

Formal Instruction and Orientation

Instruction classes in the use of the catalog, other electronic resources and the Internet are provided on a regular basis. 

Orientation tours and library instruction for groups can be provided with sufficient advance notice.

Homebound Service

The Glen Ellyn Public Library will arrange for delivery of library materials to cardholders currently residing in the Village of Glen Ellyn who are unable to visit the Library in person due to a permanent or temporary physical disability. A doctor's certificate may be required. A staff member in Adult Services will be designated to take requests from homebound persons and arrange for a volunteer to deliver the requested materials if a friend or family member cannot pick them up.

Deliveries will be made as needed to the extent the volunteer schedule permits. Materials will be checked out on the patron's card, but overdue fines will not be charged.  However, no new materials will be provided until all overdue items are returned.

Low Vision Lending Program

A Telesensory machine is available for loan to those with a Glen Ellyn Library card and those living in the Glen Ellyn area who are enrolled in the Federally funded program sponsored by the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.  Those persons who are eligible will be asked to fill out a registration card for use of the machine which includes the same responsibility statement that is included on the Glen Ellyn Library card registration form.

Programming

The Library is committed to presenting an array of programs for persons of all ages.

Persons with a valid Glen Ellyn Public Library card will be given preference in program registration if demand exceeds available resources.