The University Library Regulations approved by the Governing Board in a session held on February 4, 1984, in its Article 20, state:

1. The loan service aims to allow users to borrow documents from the library for a limited period of time, except for materials excluded from borrowing.
2. This service will be provided upon presentation of appropriate identification.
3. This service will be governed by its own rules that ensure the dissemination, availability, and preservation of the University’s bibliographic and documentary heritage. These rules will be proposed by the Faculty Library Committee or the Campus Main Library Committee and approved by the University Library Committee.

To access and borrow items from the Library, users will need the card provided by the University or, failing that, they will need to request a card at their campus/faculty or school Library.

Users must not give their card or lend library materials to another person, as they will be accountable for the materials until returned to the library.

Members of the University of the Basque Country / EHU

Every member of the community of the University of the Basque Country is entitled to this service.

Users are divided in 6 different groups: students, postgraduates, researchers, administrative and service staff (P.A.S.), institutional and faculty members.

1. Students: undergraduate students from the UPV/EHU, from the Aulas de la Experiencia, from other centres affiliated with the UPV/EHU, Erasmus.
2. Postgraduate students: Master’s, postgraduate students, and PhD students.
3. Researchers: scholars and research staff in training; visiting faculty.
4. P.A.S.: UPV/EHU administrative and service staff.
5. Institutional: departments and others.
6. Faculty: teaching staff from the UPV/EHU and affiliated centres or those with agreements with the UPV/EHU, IkerBasque staff.

Members of institutions with agreements with the UPV/EHU

The UPV/EHU has established agreements or arrangements with other institutions that allow their members access to the University Library. These individuals will have access to the loan service under the terms provided by the corresponding agreement.

External users

Currently, they do not have access to the home loan service.

The bibliographic collection can be loaned to the entire university community, with the exception of some reference works, journals, older works, and all those works that, due to their peculiar characteristics and state of conservation, are recommended for consultation in the library rooms.

The following works will be excluded from the loan service:

• Reference works (encyclopedias, dictionaries, catalogues, bibliographies...)
• Periodicals
• Updatable works and loose-leaf materials
• Old, rare, and precious documents
• Modern documents that are out of print or difficult to replace
• Unpublished theses, dissertations, and final year projects
• Drawings, posters, prints...

The conditions and length of a document loan vary according to the type of user and the type of document. Through the library automation program, the bibliographic collection is classified into four types of documents: three types can be loaned (monographs, manuals, and restricted) but the last type corresponds to works excluded from loan (reference).

*If another user reserves the item on loan, the loan periods will be reduced to 15 days (in the case of 30-day loans) and to 30 days (in the case of 365-day loans)

These established deadlines do not exempt users from the obligation to return the books to the library if they are asked to do so.

Requests

Users can request documents from the University Library and choose what centre to  pick them at. Short-term loan books can only be requested by users affiliated with the library to which the book belongs. If someone needs a short-term loan book from another library, users must contact the library to which they are affiliated.

The maximum number of active requests that a user can have at any given time, will depend on the user type:

• Undergraduates: 5
• Postgraduates: 15
• Researchers and Administrative staff (PAS): 15
• Teaching staff: 40

Loan renewal

Loans can be renewed up to 3 times, as long as no-one else has requested the same item or the user has been penalized.

During vacation periods, the length of the loans will vary. The conditions of these loans will be posted at all service points and on the library's website well in advance.

Departmental Loan

Departments can hold a maximum of 100 books as a book deposit per academic year. This loan unit is exclusively for laboratory books and similar materials.

The Director of the Department, or in their absence, the Departmental Unit, will be responsible for the books on deposit. These books must be returned for inventory when the Department Director changes.

In case of loss or damage of the material:

As established by Article 54 of the University Library Regulations:

"Every user of the loan service is responsible for the items received on loan. In case of total or partial destruction, loss, or non-return of the borrowed item, it must be replaced with another copy of the same characteristics or with its economic value if it cannot be found on the market."