MaineCat Policies

The following policies have been voted on and adopted by the Maine InfoNet Board and are designed to govern usage of and participation in MaineCat. 

These policies are not designed to supersede the policies in place within underlying systems or override any lending, requesting, or participation requirements in place at those systems.
 
Any questions regarding these policies may be directed to James Jackson Sanborn, Executive Director of Maine InfoNet or directly to the Maine InfoNet Board of Directors.
 
Support in implementing these policies may be requested through the Maine InfoNet Support site or by emailing support@maineinfonet.org
 

MaineCat Policies

MaineCat Participation Requirements Policy

To participate in MaineCat, libraries must commit and adhere to the following:

  • Be a member of a compatible ILS system

  • Be willing to loan materials to all participating libraries

  • Maintain a commitment to local collection development. Inter-Library Loan (ILL) through MaineCat is not a substitute for a strong local collection.

  • Comply with Maine InfoNet’s established cataloging practices to ensure records are compatible and integrate with existing MaineCat records.

  • Ship requested items within one calendar week after the request was sent.

  • Participate in MaineCat discussions.

  • Keep MaineCat primary contact information up-to-date (at least annually).

  • Adhere to MaineCat policies and procedures.

Effective Date January 1, 2023 – Adopted by vote of Maine InfoNet Board of Directors, December 5, 2022

 

MaineCat Materials Contribution Policy

The MaineCat catalog serves as the union catalog of requestable items, special collections, and reference materials of participating libraries. It allows library patrons and researchers to see the full breadth of materials available to request at participating libraries throughout the state as well as specialized items that are available for in-house use. To ensure maximum discoverability for searchers of MaineCat, participating libraries contribute all appropriate holdings to MaineCat.

  • Materials that are requestable/holdable through the OPAC by patrons within a library’s system (consortial or individual) must be contributed and made requestable through MaineCat with limited exceptions.

  • Newly acquired items (e.g. new books, new audiobooks) may be excluded from MaineCat for a period of up to three months in order to meet local demand. These items should not be loaded into MaineCat until such an embargo is lifted and items are requestable when available. 

  • Physical materials that are not requestable or holdable but are accessible and usable on site by local patrons and visitors may be contributed to MaineCat for information purposes. Examples include reference books, special collections materials, journals.

  • Materials to be excluded from MaineCat include strictly “local use only” materials not accessible to visitors, such as eBooks and eJournals, course reserves, rental collections, items not suitable for delivery, and “Library of Things” (telescopes, fishing poles, etc.).

Effective Date January 1, 2023 – Adopted by vote of Maine InfoNet Board of Directors, December 5, 2022

Policy Notes:

The 3 month embargo of new items is optional but encouraged. This will allow local holds to be placed and processed and will reduce instances where patrons are unable to request items that are shown in MaineCat due to all items being currently checked out.

Maine InfoNet staff will work with system groups (e.g. MILS, Minerva Cat and Circ, etc.) to develop the procedures and best practices to implement the embargo period.

 

MaineCat Loan Rules Policy

MaineCat standard borrowing:  the standard checkout period for MaineCat transactions is 3 weeks, with one 3 week renewal.

An alternate loan period of 1 week with 1 week renewal is available for use with some non-book material at the owning library’s discretion if in compliance with local system policies or settings.

The borrowing library must seek permission from the lending library for any extension of the 3 week renewal date or for subsequent renewals.

The MaineCat loan rules apply to all requestable materials. 

Effective Date January 1, 2023 – Adopted by vote of Maine InfoNet Board of Directors, December 5, 2022

Policy Note: if an item has a local system hold or is checked out, MaineCat will not request or renew the item.

 

Policy Governing Responsibility for Lost/Stolen/Damaged Items

Lost/Stolen/Damaged/Overdue/Not Returned by Patron

  • The Lending Library and the Borrowing Library have the primary and direct relationship.

  • The Borrowing Library has the relationship with the patron who requested the item and will mediate all patron interactions.

Lost/Damaged MaineCat ILL items

The borrowing library assumes responsibility for borrowed material from the time it leaves the lending library until it has been returned to and received by the lending library. This includes all material shipped directly to and/or returned by the user. If damage or loss occurs, the borrowing library will provide compensation or replacement, in accordance with the preference of the lending library.  

Effective Date November 7, 2024 – Adopted by vote of Maine InfoNet Board of Directors, November 7 2024

Policy Notes:  This policy does not pre-empt existing lost/damaged ILL policies and procedures in place at consortial systems in the state (for example, Minerva may continue it’s “last-touched” policy for intra-Minerva ILL).  

If items are suspected to have been lost or damaged while in transit, this should continue to be reported through the ILL Delivery Customer Service Feedback Form.

 

MaineCat / INN-Reach Billing Policy

Libraries Must:

  • Run overdue and billing notices at least once per week.

  • Items become billable at 14 days overdue.

  • At a minimum, the borrowing library must notify their patron when overdue items become billable.

  • The owning library must bill within 14 days of the item becoming billable (28 days overdue).

Additionally:

  • The borrowing library has 45 days from the date the bill was issued to obtain the item or they are responsible for replacement costs.

  • The replacement cost price of the item is to be paid within 60 days from the date the bill was issued. 

    • Typically, when an INN-Reach ILL is lost, the billed amount will be the replacement cost (as represented in the owning library’s catalog) for the owning library’s bill to the borrowing patron’s library.

      • Items without an explicit replacement value** listed in the owning catalog will have a default value of $25. This can and should be negotiated with the borrowing library in cases where this value is not logical or reasonable. Libraries are not to charge additional processing fees for INN-Reach items.

    • No library is required to charge any fee to their patron, but the library must pay appropriate bills as required by policy whether or not they are able to recoup cost from the patron

Effective Date January 1, 2023 – Adopted by vote of Maine InfoNet Board of Directors, December 5, 2022

Policy Note: Owning Libraries are encouraged to communicate with borrowing libraries when requests are being filled by items of exceptional value.

** The explicit replacement value refers to the value in the owning library’s catalog, not the default $25 that is a placeholder in the MaineCat INN-Reach system rules.

 

 Remediation of Non-Compliance with MaineCat Policies

In the event of reported or discovered issues of non-compliance with MaineCat Policies, the following resolution structure will be used:

  • If an issue arises between departments of different libraries, the corresponding counterpart at each library will communicate to try to resolve those issues. (For example, the circulation head from each library)

  • If no resolution is reached, the directors of each library will meet and try to resolve the issue

  • If a resolution still cannot be reached, the Executive Director of Maine InfoNet will be contacted with the issue. (Institutional concerns or complaints not directly library-to-library related will be sent straight to the Executive Director of Maine InfoNet, skipping the previous steps.)

  • The Executive Director of Maine InfoNet will contact the library (and the corresponding governing boards of the involved systems, if applicable) that is not in compliance and request that a plan be submitted within 30 days, detailing how compliance will be reached

  • If a resolution is still not reached, the Executive Director of Maine InfoNet will refer the issue to the Maine InfoNet Board, which will determine the appropriate actions and possible sanctions. 

Effective Date January 1, 2023 – Adopted by vote of Maine InfoNet Board of Directors, December 5, 2022