Policies
Guidelines for Users
Backpacks, bags, purses, and other reasonable carry-on items will be allowed into the library. However, any of those items left unattended while leaving the library for a prolonged period, will be placed outside the premises.
Please do not use our tables & carrels as storage facilities for your personal belongings.
Please alert the person at the circulation desk about any unusual packages or activities in the stacks.
Who may borrow books, and for how long?
Hebrew Union College users may check out books for a 90 days period. This category of users includes current staff, faculty and students, as well as alumni from all campuses.
University of Southern California staff, students and faculty are eligible to check out two(2) books at a time for a thirty days period.
Library courtesies will be extended to graduate students and faculty from Southern California theological seminaries presenting a valid SCATLA (Southern California Area Theological Libraries Association) card.
Borrowing privileges for visiting researchers will be determined by the Librarian.
Patrons from the community at large may check out two (2) books at a time, and will be required to leave a deposit of no less than $50.00 per book.
All users are eligible to use the Library's Inter Library Loan system to request items from the other HUC-JIR branch libraries.
Note: "All items must be checked out 15 minutes before closing time."
Checked out items may be renewed twice: in person, via email or through the telephone.
Items requested by other patrons will be recalled and must be returned as requested.
Overdue fines of 25 cents a day will be imposed on items for a period of three months. Any item overdue more than 90 days will be considered lost , and its full value plus a replacement cost fee of $25.00 will be assessed against the borrower. All borrowing privileges will be terminated until all fines are paid.
HUC-JIR students who fail to return overdue books will have a hold placed on their registration and transcripts until the matter is settled.
Patrons with a history of overdue problems will lose their borrowing privileges.
Cost Replacement
A cost replacement fee will be applied to all damaged, vandalized and
lost books. Please check the items you wish to borrow, and point out
any damage to the Circulation staff BEFORE checking the items out.
Photocopying and computer printouts are available for all users at 10 cents a copy.
Getting books from storage (paging)
Circulating items in storage
Some areas in the stacks were moved into Library Storage to make room for our bound serials/periodicals upstairs. The call numbers of these areas are listed throughout the library. Items from storage will be paged according to the following procedure:
Items requested by 10am will be available for pickup beginning 11am.
Items requested between 11am-2pm will be available for pickup beginning 3:30pm.
Items requested after 3:30pm will be available for pickup beginning 10am the following morning.
Paged books will be kept behind the circulation desk for 48 hours only, unless other arrangements are made.
Additional paging arrangements will become available during midterms and finals, when the library offers extended evening and Sunday hours.
Reserved items DO NOT circulate, unless otherwise determined by the class instructor.
No food or drinks are allowed in the library. Patrons found eating or drinking on the premises will be asked to leave.
The use of cell phones or pagers inside the library is forbidden.
Library phones are not for public use.
Please be considerate of others when using the computers or the photocopying machine.
No software should be downloaded onto any of the computers without consulting the Network Administrator.
The computer by the card catalog is for online bibliographic searches only.
All items must be checked out 15 minutes before closing time.
Collection Development Policy
The Frances-Henry Library of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion collects, preserves and makes available a carefully selected variety of library materials in support of all the educational, professional and vocational needs of its stakeholders.
The Library concentrates on collecting items which fall within, or are relative to, the realm of Jewish and Hebraic studies, as well as general historical, religious, sociological and cultural studies as they relate to the research and curricular needs of its users.
The collection is firmly based upon primary Jewish texts and classical commentaries in the areas of Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Midrash, Rabbinic literature and philosophy, supplemented by selected critical works and translations.
Other important areas of collection concern are Biblical archaeology, theology, gender studies, synagogue liturgy, Hebrew language and literature, Jewish education, Jewish communal service, Jewish history, American Jewish history, modern Israel, Zionism, Holocaust studies, Jewish customs and ceremonies, Jewish art and music, and Jewish-Christian relations.
Major practical works of reference in the above mentioned areas, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, concordances, bibliographies, and indexed databases are routinely acquired.
Most materials acquired are in English or Hebrew, while occasional items are purchased in German, French, Italian, Spanish or Yiddish.
Materials' selection is done by the Librarian, in consultation with library staff and faculty members.
The item's original format is the preferred one for acquisition, i.e., hard copies of print publications, electronic data on CD ROM. In the event that two or more original formats are available, the format most useful in the library's setting is purchased.
De-accessing / Weeding:
De-accession of duplicate, damaged and dated items is performed during routine shelf-readings. Damaged books & pamphlets are repaired in house. Other media resources are replaced when possible.
The Library does not subscribe, as yet, to the practice of replacing print format sources with electronic ones.
Gifts, whether several volumes or whole libraries, are accepted according to the guidelines of the collection development policy. Items not owned by the Library are integrated into the collection according to their subjects. Duplicate items are offered to the other three HUC-JIR libraries. The remainders are eventually sold at the Library's annual book-sale that takes place during the Jewish Book Month.
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