The Mack Library participates in a borrowing agreement with other members of the Virtual Library of Virginia consortium (VIVA). Bridgewater faculty/staff/students can borrow materials from any participating institution.
Visit the website below to see a list of participating institutions, and information on how to prove your status. Remember to bring your Bridgewater ID with you!
All patrons must hold a valid borrower's card. Below is a list of eligible patrons:
Identification: A valid college ID or library borrower's card must be presented for each check-out. The library will retain a patron's card as collateral while a laptop or course reserve item is checked out. Borrowers are prohibited from permitting others to use their college ID.
Renewals: General Books, DVDs, and other general circulating items may be renewed once. Books will renew for half their original loan period, DVDs and browsing books will renew for their original loan period.
Patrons may renew items in person, by phone, or by e-mail to circulation@bridgewater.edu. Faculty, staff, and students also have the option to renew from their Discovery account.
Items may not be renewed if they are on hold by another patron.
To renew interlibrary loan items, you must contact the ILL service (ILL@bridgewater.edu) at least 3 days in advance so that the lending library can verify the renewal.
Replacements: Borrowers are responsible for the replacement fee if an item is not returned or is damaged.
Holds: Patrons may place a hold through the library website by clicking on the selected item and then the hold button. It may take up to 24 hours to fulfill holds once items are available. Patrons will be notified when the item is ready for pick up. Item will be held at the circulation desk for 3 days. Holds are processed Monday through Friday.
Recalls: Faculty may recall items. Please allow at least two working days from the date of recall.
Reciprocal Borrowing: Borrowing privileges are available for BC students, staff, and faculty at Eastern Mennonite University, James Madison University, Shenandoah University, and Mary Baldwin College. BC patrons must abide by the rules of those libraries when borrowing their materials.
Mail-Order Borrowing: Students who are learning remotely who wish to check out physical materials from the library may request them to be mailed to their house. Should you wish to borrow a material, simply email all relevant information about the item to ill@bridgewater.edu along with your mailing address. We will mail the item to you and provide both a return label and a package to mail the item back to us.
| Material | Students | Faculty/Staff | Community |
|---|---|---|---|
| General & Reference Books |
60 days |
120 days | 60 days |
| DVDs/CDs & Periodicals | 7 days | 14 days | 7 days |
| Browsing Books | up to 5 items for 30 days | up to 5 items for 30 days | up to 5 items for 30 days |
| Course Reserves |
3 hours 24 hours or 3 day limits may be available |
3 hours 24 hours or 3 day limits may be available |
May not check out course reserve items |
| Laptops |
3 hours May be available for extended checked out with IT permission for 10 days |
3 hours May be available for extended checkout with IT permission for 10 days |
May not check out laptops |
| Media Equipment | 4 days | 4 days | May not check out these items |
| Special Collections Materials | Do Not Circulate | Do Not Circulate |
Do Not Circulate |
| Interlibrary loans (ILLs) | Determined by the lending library | Determined by the lending library | Determined by the lending library |
Purpose: The primary purpose of the library’s media equipment collection is to support students and their creations of digital class projects. Equipment may be used by faculty, staff, and by students for non-class projects as available.
Loan Periods: Bridgewater students, faculty and staff may check out Media Equipment for 4 days. Community Patrons may not check out media equipment. You can reserve items and check availability using the library’s Media Equipment webpage: https://libguides.bridgewater.edu/equipment.
Extended Loans: Loan requests beyond 4 days will be considered on a case by case basis before item is checked out. Please use the following form to initiate an extended loan request: http://bridgewater.libwizard.com/extendedbooking . Questions about extended loans can be sent to Helen at hsemones@bridgewater.edu.
Fines: Media Equipment has an overdue charge of $1.00 per day per item for 14 days. After 14 days an item will be considered LOST and patron will be billed for a replacement item. Replacement costs are based on the equipment cost listed in the item record plus an additional $20 processing fee.
General Guidelines: Patrons are responsible for the replacement fee (as listed above) if a device is not returned OR is returned damaged or with missing parts. Returning the device does not clear borrower from responsibility if the device is damaged while in their possession. Media Equipment must be returned to the Circulation Desk and may not be returned through the outside book drop. Patrons are responsible for ensuring that all parts of device are present before returning, and that any personal data/files is cleared from device. Patrons are expected to abide by the Bridgewater College Policy on Computer Usage available in the IT Center’s Knolwedgebase.