Information for Graduating Students

What to do if you have books checked out

By on May 21, 2020 in All news

MIT building 10 lawn with graduation chairs and stageCongratulations to all 2020 graduates! If you are graduating and still have books checked out, we know you have questions about returning items and potential impacts on graduation. The Libraries are here to answer those questions.

Materials that remain checked out to your library account will not affect your graduation.

All MIT Libraries locations (including 24-hour spaces and book drops) remain closed and campus access remains restricted. Our recommendations are as follows:

If you are located in Cambridge or able to travel to campus:

  • Library materials may be returned at the book drop outside the entrance to Building 7 (77 Mass Ave. at the top of the stairs). 
  • The book drop will be emptied daily by essential MIT staff who remain on campus, but items won’t be removed from your library account until library staff are permitted to return to campus (timing currently unknown).
  • Please do not leave equipment or oversized items that will not fit into the book drop.

If you are located outside the Cambridge area or unable to travel to campus:

  • Keep any materials you have checked out. We will be reaching out to you to coordinate the return of your library materials.
  • You can also leave materials with a friend or colleague who is staying in the area so they may return materials in the building 7 book drop or when the Libraries re-open.

In an effort to minimize the impacts of keeping library materials for an extended period of time, the Libraries altered portions of our borrowing policy, including:

  • Overdue fines for books and other library materials have been suspended and will not be charged to you, including for materials on loan from other libraries.
  • Renewals have been extended to 7 for MIT, 5 for non-MIT users.
  • Recalling items through the catalog is disabled (i.e. no one can request books you have on loan).

We are working on broader solutions for returning library materials and will update the MIT community when a plan is in place. You can stay up to date with our available services on our Covid-19 Response page. 

If you have any additional questions about your borrowed materials, fines, renewals, etc., please contact circulation@mit.edu.