Frequently Asked Questions

What are the rules concerning Penalty Points?

In lieu of monetary fines, Penalty Points are accrued if materials checked out from the Reserve desk are returned late. 

For books and films from general reserves and active Honors reserves:

• One penalty point is accrued per hour (or portion of an hour) that the item is overdue
• When a patron's account accrues 10 points total (including items from other libraries), the patron will be blocked from overnight privileges for one week.**
• All points are cleared at the end of the semester

**This means that active Honors books will check out for two hours and must be kept in the library, as opposed to going out until 1PM the next day and general reserve books will check out for two hours and must stay in the library even after 9:30PM on weekdays.

For laptops:

• 50 penalty points are accrued per hour (or portion of an hour) that the item is overdue**
• When a patron's account accrues 1,000 points total, the patron will be blocked from checking out laptops for the rest of the semester.
• All points are cleared at the end of each semester

**Note: there are three items in each laptop kit; each one accrues points separately, making the penalty for the complete kit 150 points per hour.

For iPad Points:

• 250 penalty points are accrued per hour (or portion of an hour) that the item is overdue
• When a patron's account accrues 1,000 points total, the patron will be blocked from checking out iPads for the rest of the semester.
• All points are cleared at the end of each semester