Circulation Services
If you need additional information about Circulation Services, contact Konstantin Starikov, Head of Circulation & Interlibrary Loan Services, at kstar@bu.edu or (617) 638-4239.
The Alumni Medical Library provides library and information services to the faculty, staff and students of the Boston University schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, Public Health, and the Boston Medical Center. The Library is open to Boston University students, faculty, staff and alumni as well as members of the Boston Library Consortium and the Massachusetts Medical Society. Click here [ hyperlink to http://library.bu.edu/ ] to access the Library Catalog or for a description of Library Collections. Use this form to recommend that the Library purchase a book or journal title.
- All faculty, staff and students of Boston University can use their identification cards to check-out materials from the Alumni Medical Library.
- All faculty, staff and students who are affiliated with universities & libraries holding membership in the Boston Library Consortium (BLC) are also eligible to check-out materials. A valid BLC card must be presented at time of check-out.
- Journals, reference books, reserve books and audiovisual materials do not circulate outside the Library.
- Books in the regular circulating collection are circulated for 28 days. Renew with the Book Renewal Form or by logging into your personal account.
- Each book may be renewed up to two times unless another patron has placed a "hold" on the item. When a book is renewed, its due date is 28 days from the day of the renewal. Book renewals must be requested within one week of the book's due date -- Boston University's online library catalog system does not allow for a book to be renewed prior to one week before its due date.
- Checked-out materials can be returned to any of the Boston University libraries. The Interlibrary Loan Service materials must be returned to the BU library from which they were requested.
- Patrons are responsible for theft, loss, or damage to items checked-out to them.
BMC clincal employees, including residents, can use their BMC identification cards to check out materials at the Alumni Medical Library. BMC ID cards can also be used to check out items at the Charles River campus libraries, but only after an initial visit to the Medical Library. If you have already checked out a book at the Medical Library, you will not need to do any further. If you have not checked out an item and wish to use your ID card at the Charles river campus libraries, please present your card to the staff member at the Alumni Medical Library desk and ask to be added to Millineum, the system that tracks library usage.
Information on setting up access to electronic resources.- If a patron fails to return a checked-out item 7 days past its due date, he or she will receive a late notice requesting that the item be returned immediately.
- If the book is not returned 14 days after the first notice is sent, a second late notice is mailed.
- If the item is still not returned within an additional 20 days, a final late notice is sent, and the patron may be blocked from checking-out materials from all Boston University libraries. Blocked records cannot be re-instated until the overdue item is returned.
- If a patron does not return the item 10 days after the final notice has been sent, he or she will be billed an $80 replacement charge per item (or cost of the item -- whichever is greater) along with a $20 non-refundable billing fee. (Students' university accounts are automatically billed for unreturned items. Faculty and staff receive billing invoices directly from the Library).
- Patrons who return items after receiving a billing notice are not required to pay the full $100 or replacement value of the item. As long as the item is returned in good condition, the patron is required to pay only a $20 non-refundable billing fee.
- When a patron returns the item, his or her library records are immediately unblocked as long as all fines have been paid in full.
- If a patron fails to return a checked-out item 7 days past its due date, he or she will receive a late notice requesting that the item be returned immediately.
- If the book is not returned 14 days after the first notice is sent, a second late notice is mailed.
- If the item is still not returned within an additional 20 days, a final late notice is sent.
- If a patron does not return the item 10 days after the final notice has been sent, he or she will be billed an $80 replacement charge per item (or cost of the item -- whichever is greater) along with a $20 non-refundable billing fee. (Students' university accounts are automatically billed for unreturned items. Faculty and staff must pay replacement charges of fines directly to the Library). BUMC and BMC faculty and staff will be blocked from checking-out materials from all Boston University libraries. Blocked records cannot be re-instated until the overdue item is returned or the payment is received.
- Patrons who return items after receiving a billing notice are not required to pay the full $100 or replacement value of the item. As long as the item is returned in good condition and within a reasonable time, the patron is required to pay only a $20 non-refundable billing fee.
- When a patron returns the item, his or her library records are immediately unblocked as long as all fines have been paid in full.
The Print Reserve Collection is located on the 12th floor of the Library (behind the Circulation Desk). Print materials on reserve are usually loaned for two hours and for library use only.
The purpose of the Print Reserve Collection is to make required course readings easily accessible to Boston University students. By limiting the amount of time such material may be charged out and/or requiring that the material remain in the library during use, all students in a class have the opportunity to make use of it. Additionally, the Reserve service provides a secure location for heavily-used items.
If you are a course instructor at the Boston University Medical Center (Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, Public Health and the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences) please read instructions on how to place materials on reserve.
Circulation Services staff will relocate reserve materials that are no longer being used to the general collection. The course instructor must fill out or to update a Reserve Request Form at least 14 days before these materials are needed on Reserve.
- Boston University's Library Catalog and information about searching the Library Catalog
- Boston Library Consortium:
- Virtual Catalog
- WorldCat Book and Journal Holdings
- Click here to renew a book that you have checked out.
