Frequently asked Questions: Borrow Direct

What is the loan period for Borrow Direct Materials?

Borrow Direct materials may be loaned for sixteen weeks, unless recalled. If an item is recalled you will receive a notice with a new due date.

Does Borrow Direct allow renewals?

No. Borrow Direct items now have an extended loan of 16 weeks, so there are no renewals. 

Does Borrow Direct charge fines for overdue material?

  • Yes. Overdue materials will accrue fines of $0.25 per day, up to a $22.50 maximum.
  • Overdue recall items will accrue fines of $1.00 per day, up to a $90 maximum per item.

How much will I be charged for lost material?

Once you notify the Borrow Direct office that an item has been lost, we will contact the lending library and ask for an invoice. Replacement costs and associated fees are determined by the lender.  We will notify you of the amount due and add or adjust the fee to your circulation account.

Materials available through Borrow Direct

  • Books and printed music (scores) not owned by Princeton and in circulating collections
  • Books and printed music (scores) owned by Princeton but charged out to other users, or otherwise unavailable, e.g. non-circulating or missing

Materials NOT available through Borrow Direct

  • Books that are available in Princeton’s collections and are not charged out, which may include in-process and on-order items.  
  • E-books
  • Journals and journal articles
  • Microforms, rare and reference books, books on reserve at other libraries and other non-circulating materials. Non-book formats (CDs, LPs, videos, etc.) are available from some collections.
  • Multi-volume sets: a request may not be accepted by Borrow Direct if one or more volumes of the set are available to check out. All volumes must be "charged out" at Princeton in order for a request to be submitted. If requesting is unsuccessful, please request via Interlibrary Loan

* Try Princeton’s Interlibrary Loan service for materials not available through Borrow Direct

Will I be notified when my Borrow Direct material is available to pick-up?

Yes. You will receive an email when your request is available for pick-up.

** Items may NOT be delivered to locations other than FIrestone

My Borrow Direct request has not arrived but is in "finished" status in ILLiad. Is something wrong?

ILLiad and ReShare (Borrow Direct) are integrated, so requests may move from one system to the other. This allows fulfillment in the most seamless way. When a request is "shipped" in ReShare/Borrow Direct, the status of that request in ILLiad changes to finished. This is because the ReShare system is going to handle the supply and management of the request. Please contact bdirect@princeton.edu if you have any question about request status. 

Can I return Borrow Direct material to any circulation desk?

You may return Borrow Direct items to any library circulation desk. This includes the Architecture, Engineering, East Asian, Firestone, Lewis, Mendel, Plasma Physics, and Stokes libraries.

I didn't pick up my Borrow Direct material but just reecived a notification that the item had been returned, why?

Once Borrow Direct material arrives it remains on hold for seven days. If it is not picked up within seven days, it will be returned to the lending library.

I returned my BD material yesterday/over the weekend but haven't received an email confirming that the material was returned, why not?

Items received after office hours, M-F 8:30-4:30, will not be processed until the following morning. Items returned after hours on Friday or over the weekend may not be processed until the following Monday *** Please do not return materials to us that were requested directly from another BD school, nor non-BD books that need to be returned to one of the BD schools. The Borrow Direct office is not equipped to handle such items.