July 2025

Quick Facts

• Patrons may check out up to:
  • 150 physical items
  • 30 DVDs and Blu-Rays
  • 2 Lucky Day items
  • 20 items on Libby/OverDrive
  • 8 items each month on Hoopla
  • Kanopy uses a ticket system and patrons may use 12 credits per month
  • Kanopy Kids has no checkout limit
• There is no checkout limit on CDs, including music and audiobooks.
• Fees/checkout flow chart 

See:

• Fees includes a list of fees and how to talk with patrons about them.
• User Standing or the Fees/checkout flow chart includes what will block an account from checkout.
• Bills includes how bills work in Symphony.

Procedure

Current (total), DVD/Blu-ray and Lucky Day collection checkouts are displayed in the fixed fields of the patron record.

Discussing checkout limits with patrons

• The DVD/Blu-ray limit is 30 and the Lucky Day limit is 2. If a patron asks, these are the checkout limits.
• The thresholds in the ILS for these item types, however, are set at 60 and 4, respectively, so that patrons may return DVDs/Blu-rays or Lucky Day items and then check out more immediately. The goal is to allow more patrons to use checkout stations and avoid making them go to the desk to get their returned items checked in.
• As long as patrons are within the thresholds, staff should not comment on the limits or number of DVD/Blu-ray or Lucky Day items checked out. If patrons say they are blocked from checking out more DVD/Blu-ray or Lucky Day items on a staff or checkout station, the threshold has been reached and staff should not override.

Total checkout limit

Patrons should not regularly have more than 150 items out at one time. If a patron needs a few items that will go over the limit, document that exception in a Comment field and ask the patron to return materials to get under the 150 limit before their next checkout.

DVD/Blu-ray limit

A patron may have up to 30 DVDs and Blu-ray discs checked out at one time. Checkout is limited by the item types adult DVD, adult Blu-ray, juvenile DVD, and juvenile Blu-ray.

Lucky Day collection

A patron may have two Lucky Day items checked out at one time. Checkout is limited by the item type Lucky Day.

E-book and downloadable limits

• OverDrive -- a patron may have 20 items checked out and 10 holds
• Hoopla -- a patron may access 8 items per month
• Kanopy -- a patron may use 12 credits per month to check out items
• Kanopy Kids -- no checkout limit

Policy

A patron may have up to 150 physical items checked out at one time.

This includes limits up to: 

• 30 DVDs and Blu-rays
• 2 Lucky Day collection items

In addition to 150 physical items, a patron may check out:

• 20 OverDrive e-books
• 8 Hoopla items per month
• Use 12 tickets on Kanopy per month
• Kanopy Kids has no checkout limit

Hold limits are higher for patrons with Library Outreach Services (LOS), Educator and A_6_WEEK user profiles. See User Profiles for details. 

Rationale

A patron is allowed to have 150 items checked out at one time because there is not enough shelf space to accommodate the entire library collection. By setting DVD and Blu-ray checkout limits, the library stops a patron from checking out large numbers of DVDs and Blu-rays and never returning them.  The DVD/Blu-ray and Lucky Day limits also avoid the problem of a few patrons monopolizing a small collection.