Circulation Policies & Procedures

Patrons

All materials in the general and historical collections circulate to Department of Education staff and contractors; they are also available for interlibrary loan. The public may use all collections on-site during regular library hours (9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday - Friday, except federal holidays).

The Library serves as an effective partnership across diverse locations and a virtual library that utilizes modern information technology to become a one-stop information provider for customers seeking high-quality education information.

Policies

Any U.S. Department of Education employee with a valid U.S. Department of Education ID may borrow books from the National Library of Education. Books from the Lending Collections may be borrowed. Other books and items that do not circulate include the following: Reference, Archival, Rare Book Collection, magazines, microforms, and CD-ROMs.

The loan period for materials is four weeks. Renewals can be made in person, by phone, by Email at library@ed.gov. Renewals are for four weeks. Employees may also put books on hold or on reserve in person, by phone, and by e-mail.

Interlibrary Loan Procedures

Any U.S. Department of Education employee may request a book or article on ILL from another library. The material requested must be for the work of the U.S. Department of Education. ILL requests can be submitted by phone at (202) 219-2238, by fax at (202) 401-0547, in person, and by E-Mail at library@ed.gov.

Patrons outside of the Department must contact their library to arrange the ILL. An ILL can be placed by either OCLC or an ALA form signed by the librarian of the library that wishes to borrow a book. If the book that is borrowed on ILL is needed by an employee of the U.S. Department of Education, it can be recalled at anytime during the loan period. Items that do not circulate include special collections, reference materials, journals, newspapers, microfiche, microfilm, and CD-ROMs.

NLE does not lend books outside the United States. NLE does accept requests for copies of articles from outside of the United States that are no more than 50 pages.