Interlibrary Loan Policy

1. General Information

The Tarpon Springs Public Library supports resource sharing, or interlibrary loan (ILL), and conforms to the guidelines of the National Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States, revised and approved by the Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association, June 13, 2023, as well as the ILL policies of the Florida Library Information Network.

Borrowing and lending of materials takes place using two different methods:

  • Placing holds in the local Pinellas County (“PALS”) library catalog.
  • OCLC WorldShare Resource Sharing Services initiated by library reference staff.

Of the aforementioned methods, the first allows patrons to request items independently; the second is performed by trained library staff.

The library does not participate in international resource sharing.

2. Borrowing

Tarpon Springs Library patrons are limited to one OCLC ILL request per calendar month per library card.

ILL services are generally free of charge to Tarpon Springs Public Library patrons in good standing with valid library cards. Expenses for which patrons are responsible are:

  • Lost charges, which are dictated by the supplying library.
  • Lending, shipping, or photocopying fees charged by supplying libraries which are first approved by the patron before accrual.

The library will attempt to borrow materials in all formats: books, audio-visual, and microform, and to acquire copies of cited articles.

The library cannot request:

  • Entire periodicals.
  • Items published in the current year.
  • Items from outside Pinellas County when they are available from libraries within the Pinellas PALS catalog.

The library will handle all communication with the supplying library for ILL services. Patrons who have any ILL questions should contact the staff of the Tarpon Springs Public Library and not the supplying library.

Reasons that patron requests for materials may not be permitted by library staff include the aforementioned policies, as well as the patron’s habitual abuse of ILL privileges as determined by library staff, including (but not limited to) lost items or excessive late returns. Patrons may lose their interlibrary loan privileges completely.

3. Lending

Tarpon Springs Public Library will supply books and audio-visual materials, and will make photocopies of articles, all free of charge. Consult the library’s Circulation Department, Reference Department, or OCLC Policy Directory for policies regarding specific types of materials.

4. Affiliations

The Tarpon Springs Public Library is a participating member of:

The library’s OCLC symbol is FTP.