Library Administrative Rules: Circulation

By contractual agreement, the library’s rules for registering borrowers, lending items, assessing fines, and related matters correspond with rules adopted by Washington County Cooperative Library Services (WCCLS) with the agreement of its member libraries. The pertinent WCCLS policies are:

• Circulation Policy
• Circulation Transactions Policy
• Fines and Fees Policy
• Registration Policy

In these rules, there are allowances for local discretion. Here are the Hillsboro Public Library (HPL) rules in regard to those options:

Circulation Policy

1. To create card associations, both parties, regardless of age, must be present in person and give their express consent.
2. Only the cardholder may change that account’s PIN.

Circulation Transactions Policy

1. HPL requires all patrons have their library card and PIN to check out materials. Patrons who do not have or do not know their library card number or who need to reset their PIN must provide staff with a photo ID. 

Fines and Fees Policy

1. Any fines and fees charged by HPL that may be determined at an individual library level, as opposed to by WCCLS, are set by the City of Hillsboro.
2. HPL staff and volunteers are subject to the same fine obligations as the general public.
3. HPL does not refund money paid for lost items.
4. HPL does not charge for replacement library cards.

Registration Policy

1. Hillsboro Public Library (HPL) does - issue local courtesy cards (i.e., cards issued to persons who do not reside in jurisdictions normally eligible for WCCLS cards without paying an annual fee). This card type will be issued to those staying in the area temporarily, such as children staying with family for the summer or business travelers on extended stay.
2. Whenever possible, HPL will use the Limited Borrowing – No Fines card type, rather than the Limited Borrowing card type.
3. When applying in person, patrons who are eligible for the Youth Access Card should have that card type prioritized. Youth should be given a Youth Access Card if they are unable to or do not want to meet the requirements of a general card, and the Youth Access Card type should be prioritized over the E-Access card type.
4. At HPL, patrons with a Youth Access Card have available to them all of the privacy protections afforded a general card holder. A parent or guardian may not have access to a Youth Access Card account without a card association having been created.
5. HPL does issue Temporary No-Proof of Address cards.
6. HPL does not issue Family Cards, but does use card associations.
7. HPL does not issue Staff – No Fines cards to individual staff members for their personal professional use; staff must use position-related or group accounts (for example, all story time providers would use the “Storytime” card).
8. For law enforcement personnel and Oregon Department of Justice Address Confidentiality Program participants, HPL will use the address of the Hillsboro Police Department West Precinct.
9. When deleting an account, following a discussion with a supervisor, Claims Returned and Claims Never Had may be forgiven in order to delete the account.
10. HPL does not have a minimum age requirement to obtain a card.
11. HPL does accept a library-generated and library-mailed postcard as proof of address.

Regardless of the age of a patron, at HPL, where possible, all general cards are afforded the same privacy protections. For example, a parent may not close a child’s account without the child present.

Updated June 2020

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