Searching for a book

• look up the book in the library catalogue
• check the availability of the book by displaying the Holdings

Books can have different status:

• Month – it is possible to check out these books for one month. The loan period can be renewed up to 6 months (only when the book is not required by another user)
  • Overdue fines – 5 CZK daily per item
• In house loan – books with a red dot on the spine and journals & newspapers; it is possible to use these items only in the library 
  
  • Short term loans of the books with the red dot:
    • overnight loan – during the last opening hour, it is possible to check out up to 3 books with the red dot, the items have to be returned the next day before 9.30 a.m.
    • over Sunday loan – on Saturday during the last opening hour, it is possible to check out up to 5 books with the red dot, the items have to be returned on Monday before 9.30 a.m.
  • Overdue fines – 10 CZK every hour per item
  • In house loans can be check-out at the circulation desk only (do not use selfcheck)
• Long term loan – the books are not shelved in the library, they are at the teachers' offices. In case no other item is available in the library, you can write an email to the particular teacher and ask for a loan, the teacher's name is in the column Collection or ask the library staff for the teacher's contact
  

Two books collections in the library:

• free access collection – the users themselves locate the book on a shelf according to book's Call number
• closed stacks – the books in closed stacks have to be ordered in advance, log in to the catalogue and use the option Place a Hold (see details below)

Locating a book in free access collection

• books in free access collections are divided into subject groups, each subject group has its code consisting of a letter and a number (eg. B1 = philosophy, F6 = international relations etc.), on shelves the groups are arranged in ascending order according to the code they have
• inside the subject groups, books are arranged in a numerical order (each book has been assigned its number)
• find out the call number of the book in the catalogue, then locate the subject group on the shelves and find the particular number of the book, e.g. book's call number is E3-156, go to subject group E3 and there find the number 156
• if there are more items of the same book, all items have the same call number and they are on the same shelf, the item for in-house loan is marked with the red dot on the spine, items without the red dot can be checked out

Requesting books from the closed stacks

• if the book you require is located in the closed stacks, it is necessary to order the book in the catalogue
• log in to the catalogue (for login use your University personal number and primary password), look up the book in the catalogue and display Holdings
• click on Place a Hold and confirm your choice Submit request
• requested book(s) will be ready for pick up at the circulation desk within an hour,
  the requests made on Mon–Thu after 5 p.m., on Fri after 4 p.m. and on Sat after 2 p.m. will be ready the following opening day in the morning
• prepared book(s) will be held for you for 7 days at the circulation desk, then the hold will expire

Checking out books

• bring the books you wish to check out to the circulation desk and hand them to the staff together with your student card, the opening hours of the circulation desk: Mon–Thu 9 a.m.–6 p.m., Fri 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
• there are also two self-checks (one is next to the circulation desk, the other one is in the PC study room) that can be used by registered users for checking out books