Policies and regulations

1. This service is available for undergraduate (UG) and taught postgraduate (PGT, including PGCE) students registered on a course of study at Birmingham Newman University only. It is not available to students on postgraduate research (PGR) programmes, staff, visitors, or external members of Birmingham Newman University Library.
2. Laptop loans are included in your overall loan allowance. For example, if your loan allowance is 20 items, a laptop would count as one of your 20 items.
3. Laptop loans will not be available if your library account is blocked because of overdue items or unpaid charges. You will need to resolve any issues with your library account before you may borrow a laptop.

General Rules

4. Laptops are available on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot be reserved.
5. You may only borrow one laptop at a time.
6. You may borrow a laptop for up to 4 hours, or until the Library closing time, whichever is soonest. For example, if you borrow a laptop at 9:00pm and the Library is open until Midnight, the laptop must be returned before this time. You must not keep a laptop overnight.
7. You may use the laptop anywhere on the Birmingham Newman University campus, including Halls of Residence. Do not take a laptop away from campus.
8. You cannot renew a laptop loan. Laptops are excluded from our automatic renewals system.
9. You must return laptops to the laptop cabinet and follow the instructions, including plugging the laptop in to charge, to ensure that the laptop loan is cleared from your account.
10. If the laptop cabinet is not working, you may return laptops to the Service Desk on level 1 of the Library. If the Library is unstaffed, you must return the laptop to the Security office in the Lower Atrium.
11. If there is a problem with your laptop loan, you must get in touch with the Library as soon as possible.

Fines and Charges

12. We charge fines at £1.00 per hour or part of an hour, to a maximum of £50.00.
13. You will be liable for fines if you fail to return a laptop correctly, for example by not plugging in the charging cable, as this limits its availability for other users.
14. If you fail to return a laptop, we will charge you a £600.00 replacement charge in addition to any fines that have accrued.
15. If you are unable to pay fines or the replacement charges, you should contact the Library. We can set up a payment plan to help you.

16. Laptops are your responsibility as soon as they are issued to your Library account and remain your responsibility until they are correctly returned. You should not allow others to borrow any items from the Library on your account unless they are acting as your official proxy under the Library's Privilege Scheme.
17. We will charge you a £600.00 replacement cost for laptops that are lost or stolen, or for damage caused to laptops while they are your responsibility. We will not accept a replacement laptop instead of this charge.
18. If you believe you have returned a laptop, you must inform the Library as soon as possible and provide as much evidence as you can for us to investigate. If we cannot locate the laptop, we will ask you to pay a replacement charge of £600.00 as well as any fines accrued up to the point when you let us know.

19. When using a laptop to process or analyse research data, you must adhere to the Birmingham Newman University's Research Ethics and Governance codes and guidelines, as well as any research data management plan you agreed in your ethical approval.
20. You should save your work to your own external device (e.g. memory stick) or cloud-based storage.
21. You should not save passwords or account information on the laptops, for example in web browsers.
22. Ensure that you sign out of any accounts in applications and web browsers before returning the laptop.
23. By borrowing a laptop, you agree to be responsible for the security of yours and others' data that you may use or process on it.
    Birmingham Newman University will not be held responsible for loss of any data or financial loss that may occur from your use of the laptops.

24. Misusing a laptop may be dealt with as a disciplinary matter and could mean you will no longer be allowed to use the Birmingham Newman IT network and University Computing facilities and you could face further disciplinary proceedings.
25. Your use of the laptops is subject to the University's General Conditions of use of Computing and Network Facilities. and the General Academic Regulations.
26. You are responsible for any misuse of a laptop whilst it is on loan to you. We strongly recommend, therefore, that you do not allow anyone else to use a laptop whist it is on loan to you.
27. If you find viruses or illegal, inappropriate or offensive material on a laptop please get in touch with the Library as soon as possible or bring it to the Service Desk on Level 1 of the Library.