As amended January 1994:

CONNECTICARD is a program of resource sharing among public libraries statewide. The program is supported with state funding and administered by the Connecticut State Library, Division of Library Development and Administrative Services

Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, Section 11-31c-1

Definitions
Connecticard: A cooperative program among public libraries in Connecticut which allows a resident of any town in the state who holds a valid borrower card issued by his home library to use that card to borrow materials from any public library in the state that is participating in the program.

Resident: For purpose of the Connecticard program, a person is a resident of a town if that person is principally domiciled in that town. A borrower who holds dual residency or who owns property in more than one town is considered a resident only in the town in which he is principally domiciled. In all other towns, that the borrower is considered a non-resident.

Home Library: The public library in the town where a borrower is a resident is that borrower's home library. If the town where a borrower resides does not have a public library, the library that has been designated as the principal public library for that town is the home library.

Participating Library: A library is considered a Connecticard participating library when it has signed a Letter of Agreement and placed it on file with the State Library.

Connecticard borrower card: The borrower card issued by the home library is the Connecticard borrower card. It is the only card that may be used to borrow through the Connecticard program.

Connecticard transaction: Each lending of a unit of library material by a participating library to a person who is a resident of any Connecticut town, except the town in which that library is located and except any town for which that library has been designated the principal public library and who has presented a valid Connecticard borrower card at the library making the loan, may be reported by the lending library as Connecticard transaction.

Unit of library material: For Connecticard purposes, any item, whether print or non-print, that a library normally stores, retrieves, and lends as a discrete entity, may be considered a unit of library material.

Net plus transaction: Net plus transaction means the library services, based on the number of items loaned, rendered to non-residents of the town or towns normally served by such library in excess of the library services rendered to residents of such town by other libraries.

General library purposes: Means all functions of a public library including the purchase of land or the construction, alteration or remodeling of buildings.

Section 11-31c-2

Requirements for the Receipt of Connecticard Payments
Any library participating in the Connecticard program may claim and be entitled to receive state aid for services rendered to non-residents if they meet the following requirements:

• Files a record of the number of items loaned to non-residents of the town or towns it normally serves not later than seven days after March 1 and September 1 of each year with the State Library Board. If more convenient, a participating library may file such records within seven working days of the last working day of each month.
• Such reports will be on a form designated by the State Library Board and will conform to the instructions on that form.
• When determining "units of library material" for reporting Connecticard transactions, libraries shall use the following guidelines:
  • For multi-volume book sets, count each volume loaned as one transaction.
  • For unbound periodicals count each single issue loaned as one transaction; but when two or more issues are bound into one, count the entire volume as one transaction.
  • For non-print items boxed or packaged together count the entire box or package as one transaction.
• Participating libraries shall be required to certify the accuracy of their reports.
• Participating libraries shall be required to submit by November 1 of each year an Annual Connecticard Expenditure Report which details how Connecticard funds received in the second previous June 30-July 1 state fiscal year were spent.

Section 11-31c-3

Reports to be Prepared and Distributed by the State Library

• The State Library shall issue annually a report of Connecticard use at each public library in the state during the preceding 12 months.
• The State Library Shall prepare and distribute annually a list of libraries participating in the Connecticard program.
• The State Library shall prepare and distribute annually a summary of the annual Connecticard expenditure reports received for the previous fiscal year.

Section 11-31c-4

Method of Payment for Libraries Participating in the Connecticard Program* .

• Payment will be made to participating libraries once during each state fiscal year provided they have met the requirements set forth in section 11-31c-2(a) through (e)
• Payment for Connecticard transactions shall be made as follows: one-half of the total funds appropriated for the Connecticard program shall be used to reimburse participating libraries for all reported Connecticard transactions. The amount to be received by each participating library shall be determined by dividing one-half of the Connecticard appropriation by the total number of transactions reported by participating libraries during the preceding twelve (12) month period and then multiplying that figure by the number of transactions reported by the library during that period.
• Payment for Connecticard net plus transactions shall be made as follows: one-half of the total funds appropriated for the Connecticard program shall be used to provide additional reimbursement to participating libraries for net plus transactions as defined in Section 11-31c-1(h). The net plus transactions for each library shall determined by the State Library after comparing the number of items loaned by the library to Connecticut non-residents of the towns in excess of the library service rendered by public libraries in other Connecticut towns to residents of that town who have a borrower card issued by the library. The amount to be received by each participating library shall be determined by dividing one-half of the Connecticard appropriation by the total number of net plus transactions for the preceding twelve (12) month period and then multiplying that figure by the number of net plus loans made by the library during that period.
• The grant may be used for general library purposes, and no portion of the grant shall revert to the general fund of the towns normally served by such library.

Section 11-31c-5

Requirements for Libraries Participating in the Connecticard Program

Borrower Cards

• A valid adult or juvenile Connecticut public library borrower card must be presented by the borrower each time materials are borrowed. A library card may be used only by the person whom the card was issued and may not be transferred to another person. In addition to a valid borrower card, participating libraries may require that a borrower show up to two other forms of identification. To be valid, a card must include the following information:
  • Name and town, if not part of name, of the issuing library.
  • Name of the person to whom the card was issued.
  • A specific future expiration date.
• Libraries participating in Connecticard shall issue upon request a borrower card to any eligible resident of the town in which the library lies to any resident of a town for which that library has been designated the principal public library. No library participating in Connecticard shall charge the borrower a fee for the card or the issuance of the card but a library may charge a reasonable fee to replace a card reported lost by the card holder. If a library does not ordinarily issue borrower cards to its residents it must issue a card with the information described in 11-31c-5(a)(1) in order for their residents to borrow materials form libraries participating in the Connecticard program. These libraries may obtain blank borrower cards from the Connecticut State Library for use in the Connecticard program.
• Libraries participating in Connecticard may as a matter of convenience elect to issue a library card to a resident of another Connecticut town for use in that library only. No resident of another Connecticut town shall be charged a fee for such a card or for the issuance of such a card. Such cards shall include the name of the card holder's town of residence and the words "for use in the [issuing library] only." In no case shall a library issue a card to a non-resident for use as a Connecticard borrower card.

Circulation Rules

• Participating libraries shall lend to nonresidents all materials loaned to resident card holders.
• The rules governing circulation of the lending library shall apply also to Connecticard loans.
• A printed statement of the lending library's circulation policy and procedures shall be made available to non-resident borrowers upon request.
• The lending library's policy on loan renewals for resident borrowers shall also apply to non-resident loans.
• Reserves and interlibrary-loan requests may be accepted from non-residents under the same rules and policies applied to residents.

Return Of Materials

• Print materials may be returned to the library from which they were borrowed or to any public library participating in Connecticard . Lending libraries may require that non-print materials be returned by the borrower directly to the lending library.
• Participating libraries that receive items owned by another participating library shall forward them to the owning library via Connecticar.
• The borrower assumes responsibility for all material borrowed on his /her card until it is received at the library that loaned it.
• Materials borrowed on interlibrary loan must be returned directly to the library that initiated the interlibrary loan. The borrower will not return them directly to the owning library nor to any other library. The library that initiated the interlibrary loan shall clear its records, then return the materials to the lending library. Libraries that borrow an item on interlibrary loan may elect to insert a return instruction sheet in the item including the words, "This item was borrowed on interlibrary loan for your use. Please return it directly to the [borrowing] library."

Overdue Notices

• Overdue notices are prepared by the lending library and sent directly to the borrower.
• In matters of overdue and lost materials, and owed fines, the lending library may notify the home library as necessary. The home library shall provide appropriate assistance in clearing accounts including but not limited to identification of a borrower's home or mailing address.

Overdue Fines

• Fines for late returns are payable when materials are returned to the lending library.
• When computing fines, a library shall consider only the time period between the due date and the date the material is returned by the borrower to any library participating in Connecticard.
• If the materials are returned to another library, fines are payable to that library and may be either at the rate normally charged by that library or at the rate of the lending library. If materials are returned to another library which does not levy fines for overdue materials the borrower is not required to pay a fine.
• All fine moneys are retained by the library collecting them and are not refundable.
• If fines are not paid when materials are returned, the lending library may send a notice of fines due to the home library, to be collected and retained by the home library at the time of re-registration.

Responsibility

• Responsibility for outstanding loans, for overdue fines, and for lost materials is in all cases retained by the individual borrower and not by the home library or the State Library.

Materials Lost And Paid For

• Payments for lost or damaged materials are payable to the lending library.
• The lending library's policy on refunds for `found' materials for resident borrowers shall also pertain to loans to non-residents.

Statement of purpose: To establish procedures to govern the administration of the Connecticard program.

Prepared by the Department of Library Development, Connecticut State Library, 5-97.

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[Note: If a library issues a card to a resident of another state it may not be used as a Connecticard. The card must be clearly marked "for use in the (issuing library) only. " The library should also contact the iCONN offices for alternative barcodes that will not provide access to the iCONN databases]