Borrowing

Borrowing

As a member of the Polytechnique Montréal community, you can borrow documents at the Library with your Polytechnique ID card. 

Use the Sofia discovery tool to find the documents you need. You can borrow up to 100 items at a time. For details on specific borrowing rules by document type, consult the loan terms and conditions table.

Users

Polytechnique Montréal community

All students, as well as staff and faculty members of Polytechnique Montréal, can use the services and resources of the Library. The Polytechnique ID card is used as the library card. 

**Please note: there may be a delay of 24 to 48 hours between the issue of the card and the activation of the library account.

Québec universities

Library users at any Québec university may obtain documents from any member of the Québec university library network. When retrieving your documents, you must show your home university card. Students from other Québec universities who visit the Louise-Lalonde-Lamarre Library also have access to some of our services.

Paid membership

Alumni and other users may obtain a one-year membership allowing them to borrow documents from the Polytechnique Montréal Library by making a $125 donation to Polytechnique Foundation and Alumni. This membership does not provide access to electronic resources.

Visitors

Visitors who are not library members can access the library's electronic resources on site by filling out the form "Privilège d’accès provisoire aux ressources électroniques". They will receive an access pass valid for the day. 

Terms and conditions

Types of documents	Loan period	Condition of use	Loan item limit	Renewal	Hold	Borrowers	Late fees2
Books : - General collection - Culture collection - Course notes - Governmental publ.	30 days		100	Unlimited1	Yes	All	$0.50 / per day
Course Reserve	4 hours		3	No	No	Poly only	$0.50 / 15 min.
Standards	4 hours	In Library use	3	No	Yes	Poly only	$0.50 / 15 min.
Dictionaries	3 days		3	1	Yes	Poly only	$0.50 / day
Board games	10 days		10	2	Yes	Poly only	$0.50 / day
Periodicals - 30 day loan	30 days		100	4	Yes	Poly only	$0.50 / day
Bound periodicals		In Library use			No
Reference		In Library use			No
Rare books		In Library use			No
Microfilms		In Library use			No

¹ Unless reserved by another person, recalled by the library, blocked or expired.
² Per item.

Returning documents

Borrowed documents can be returned at the Library's service counter or in the bookdrop located at the entrance of the Library on the 7th floor of the Pavillon Lassonde.

Documents borrowed from a Québec university library (BUQ network) may be returned to any BUQ network library.

Network loan

From Sofia, you can place holds on items located in any of the 18 academic libraries in Québec (PBUQ). Simply click the Request button to place a hold, whether the item is at the Polytechnique Library or another BUQ library. The document will be delivered to Polytechnique for pickup.

Interlibrary loan (ILL)

If you wish to loan a document that doesn't belong to any library from the PBUQ network, like an article, chapter, physical book, we suggest that you use instead the interlibrary loan service (ILL).

Borrow a device

Devices	Loan period	Condition of use	Renewal	Reservation	Borrowers	Lates fees
Laptops	4 hours	In Library use	No1	No	Poly only	$0.50 / 15 min.
Laptops	24 and 72 hours		No1	No	Poly only	$5 / Day
Calculators	24 hours		No1	Yes2	Poly only	$5 / Day
Gadgets from Techno-prêt	3 days		No1	Yes2	Poly only	$0.50 / Day
Gadgets from Techno-prêt	4 hours	In Library use	No1	No	Poly only	$0.50 / 15 min.
Gadgets from Techno-prêt	30 days		No1	No	Poly only	$0.50 / Day

¹  One hour delay before re-borrowing the same item.
²  Only if an item is borrowed.

All laptops are equipped with a built-in webcam, speakers/audio output, an internal microphone, and a local generic account that does not require authentification.

Detailed descriptions of devices are provided on the Techno-Prêt page.

Course Reserve

Recommended books are located in the Course Reserve in front of the Library service counter.

You can borrow :

• Course reserve available during library opening hours.
• A maximum of 3 items can be borrowed for a loan period of 4 hours. No renewals.
• Overdue fines are $0.50 per item, every 15 minutes past the due time.
• Borrow at the self-service terminals near the Course reserve.
• Return the borrowed books at the service counter.

Night loan

The Night loan is a service that allows you to borrow items from the Course Reserve and bring them home after Library hours.

• This service can be requested at the Library service counter after 7 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and after 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
• Items need to be returned no later than 1 h after service counter opening hours the following day or the next business day, before 9:30 a.m. Monday to Friday or before 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
• Overdue fines are $0.50 per item, every 15 minutes past the due time.
• If a Course Reserve item is brought back late once, a note is added to your account. The second time you bring a Course Reserve item late, you lose the night loans privilege for the duration of the term.

My account

1. Access Sofia to access your borrower's account.
2. Click on the icon Sign in on the top right corner of the page. 
3. Select the connection mode and enter the required information.
4. Attention. Please use the "Remember my selection" option on this page with care, especially from a public computer.

Once you have signed in to your account in Sofia, click on the arrow next to My Account :

• Checkouts: List of items currently checked out to you, along with their due dates. Items can be sorted and renewed using the "Renew Items".
• Requests : Holds you have placed on titles. Holds can be sorted as well as cancelled using the "Cancel Requests" button and edited using the "Edit Request" link.
• Fees : Any fines owed are listed on the "Fees" tab. Charges can be sorted and fees paid using the "Pay Fees" button. Follow further on-screen instructions to complete fee payment.
• My Profile : My Profile will list the email address we have on file for you. This should be your Polytechnique email address. This is also where you can active or deactivate your borrowing history.

To learn more about the features of your account, for example saved searches and lists, see Customized Functions in the Search in Sofia guide.

How to place a hold

1. In the Sofia discovery tool, click on the title of the document to access the detailed record.
2. Click on Request (whether the item is available or currently on loan).
3. Sign in if you haven't already.
4. Fill in the required fields:
1. Select Any Copy (recommended).
2. Choose Polytechnique - Lassonde as the pickup location for physical items.
5. Click Submit to confirm your reservation request.
6. When the document is ready for you, you will receive an email notification letting you know the document is ready for pick up at Polytechnique's Library.
7. Once you receive the email notification, you have seven days to pick up your reserved item. For board games, standards, and dictionaries, the pickup window is two days.

ATTENTION : loans are renewed automatically every 30 days, as long as they are not reserved by another patron. Therefor, if you need a book that is checked out, the best way to get it is to place a hold on it. This will prevent the document to be renewed in the borrower's file. The borrower will have to bring back the book in order for the next patron to borrow it.

Scan request

Periodical articles and book chapters can be scanned and emailed to you. Restrictions from the Copyright Act apply. Please visit our Scan service page for more information.

Renew

On the due date, most loans are automatically renewed, unless they have been requested by another user or your account is not in good standing. Certain types of materials are non-renewable or require manual renewal through your user account.

To manually renew your loans, navigate to the Requests tab, select the items, and click Renew items. Renewals must be processed prior to the due date.

Payment of late fees

1. To make an online payment, sign in to your account in the Sofia discovery tool.
2. Click the arrow next to My Account, then select Fees from the drop-down menu.
3. The Fees page will appear. This page allows you to see the fees associated with the documents or any other fees recorded in your file.
4. Select the fees you want to pay, then click Pay Fees.Information on the nature of the data will be transmitted to confirm the payment by clicking the black button I consent. Pay now.
5. You will be taken to a window to enter payment details.
6. Once the required fields are completed, complete the transaction by clicking Pay Fee.
7. The message "Payment submitted. Charges will be removed from your account when payment has cleared" is displayed.
8. The transaction will appear on your credit card statement as SOFIABUQ514-2888524.