Library rules

• To borrow books at Malmö University library, you need to be at least 18 years old or admitted to studies at Malmö University.
• The library card is personal and should be handled like other similar valuable documents. Notify the library immediately if you lose your card. Until a card is reported as lost, the cardholder is responsible for any loans made using the card.
• The library card can be collected by providing a valid photo ID.
• The library undertakes to send messages via e-mail but cannot guarantee that these e-mails are received by the patron. The patron is always responsible for renewing or returning their books on time.
• The patron does not have to provide the library with an e-mail address. However, reminders, demands, and collection notices from the library are only sent digitally.
• The patron is responsible for informing the library of their new contact information. This can be done via the library’s website.

The library registers the patron’s name, personal ID number, address, e-mail address, and telephone number. The personal data is processed according to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

• The library has a set loan period for its books:
  The normal loan period for printed materials and films are 21 days (28 days for distance students and other libraries). The loan period for films is also 21 days. Reference literature, magazines, and newspapers cannot be checked out.
• The patron must comply with the loan periods and return or renew their borrowed materials on time. This also applies in the vent of travel or illness.
• Loans can be renewed via the library’s website.
• The patron is responsible for their loans until they have been registered as returned in the library’s system.
• Borrowed materials must be returned undamaged.

An individual’s borrowing history is subject to privacy regulations pursuant to Chapter 40, Section 3 of the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (SFS 2009:400).

• The library charges an overdue fine of SEK 10 per day for any material not returned on time.
• If the patron’s unpaid fines amount to SEK 100 or more, the patron cannot borrow any more items until the fees have been paid.
• An invoice for work costs and a standard replacement cost is sent out for each piece of material that is not returned. If the invoice is not paid, it will be forwarded for collection measures. If the invoice has been paid or the matter has been forwarded to a collection agency, the amount will not be repaid to the patron if they return the material.

The library can order material from other libraries for students or staff members at Malmö University. The loan period is always set by the lending library, but cannot exceed 6 months. If the book is not returned upon request, the borrower will be required to pay the charge the library owes the lending library. Sometimes materials borrowed through interlibrary loans cannot be taken home and must be read at the library.

When using the library’s computers, the following terms apply.

Terms of use - use computer id to login

The library’s primary target groups are students, researchers, and other staff members at Malmö University, and our goal is to satisfy these groups’ need for media as well as possible. The general public and students at other higher education institutions are also free to use our resources.

Malmö University Library shall support the principles of free speech and freedom of expression.

Malmö University is an educational and research-oriented library that aims to have a broad range of literature which corresponds to the needs that researchers and students may have as part of their research or studies. 

Malmö University Library shall acquire printed literature and digital research to support first and second-cycle education, research, and third-cycle education in the university’s subject areas.

Quality, breadth, and relevance shall be guiding principles of the library’s collections in order to better support research and education. All material added to the collections shall, regardless of how it was acquired, have been assessed for quality and relevance.

We strive to make acquisitions in collaboration with the university’s departments and researchers. The acquisitions shall be flexible and should be adapted to the changes that take place within Malmö University’s research and education areas.

The library prioritizes the purchase of digital resources where motivated. This includes databases, e-journals and e-books.

Books

Digital editions of monographs are preferred as they provide users with greater availability. The library follows the university’s agreement regarding the purchase of printed books. 

Databases

The library strives to maintain good access to databases within the university’s subject areas.

Journals

The majority of the journals subscribed by the library are digital editions which are part of larger package deals offered by publishers. Individual titles are mainly subscribed to as a result of purchase proposals made by the university staff. Digital editions of journals are preferred as they provide users with greater availability. The library follows the national framework agreement on subscriptions to individual journals.

Reference literature

A certain base inventory of a more general character, as well as up-to-date handbooks and encyclopedias, should be kept as reference literature at the university. When acquiring reference literature, digital publishing is preferred, as it provides greater availability and allows for faster updating. 

Course literature

Malmö University Library acquires the literature required for the courses available at the university. Our aim is to be able to provide all course literature at the beginning of each semester. This is accomplished through collaboration with the university’s departments and teachers.

As a general rule for required textbooks, the library acquires one reference copy and two copies for checkout. For each required textbook title there should be one reference copy. Whenever possible, an e-book version replaces the printed reference copy.

For courses with a large number of students or when a title occurs on several courses, the library makes an assessment of whether additional copies should be acquired. For highly requested titles, additional copies may be acquired gradually.

The library acquires fiction used as required course literature, however, no reference copies are provided.

Teaching materials

Teaching materials are continuously acquired as they are a natural part of teacher training courses. The goal is to have teaching materials relevant to teacher training available at the Orkanen library. 

Fiction and film

Fiction and film are purchased for research and teaching, but also to some extent for general education and entertainment.  It is reviewed for quality and relevance in the same way as non-fiction material is. 

Self-produced publications

Theses published at Malmö University shall be added to the library’s physical collection and be published in DiVA (Academic Archive Online), the university’s digital academic archive. 

All printed material published in the university’s publication series, including theses and degree projects, shall also be published digitally in DiVA, unless there are special reasons not to do so.

See vice-chancellor’s decision regarding open access to the university’s academic publications

Suppliers and agreements

The library makes agreements with special suppliers and joins consortiums for the acquisition of printed books, digital media, journals, and databases.

User-based acquisition

The library mainly employs user-based acquisitions and therefore welcomes purchasing proposals from researchers, teachers, and students. The general public is also welcome to submit such proposals. Proposals can be submitted via our purchase proposal form or by e-mailing forvarv@mau.se

The library follows the development of models for user-based acquisition of e-books offered by publishers and suppliers. 

Selection

The library continually conducts selection work in parallel with its user-based acquisitions. 

Open access

The library actively monitors the transition to open digital publishing and, where possible, replace printed journals and books with digital ones, especially ones with open access.

When selecting resources with open access, we have the same quality and availability requirements as we have for commercial resources.

Donations

The University Library can only accept a limited amount of donations. We always reserve the right to make our own selection of materials and to freely dispose of any received materials.

Interlibrary loans from other libraries

Interlibrary loans can be requested by students, researchers, and other staff members at Malmö University and are considered a complement to acquisitions.

Literature for research and higher education that is not available at any of the university libraries can be borrowed from other libraries, in or outside Sweden. However, interlibrary loans are a complement to acquisitions. Requested interlibrary loans of material which can be acquired and which fits our collections are considered to be purchase proposals. In cases where we find that a purchase proposal will take an unreasonably long time to deliver, we make a complementary interlibrary loan.

For extensive orders, the library presumes that dialogue is maintained with the ordering researchers ahead of the order. 

Interlibrary loans to other libraries

The library’s interlibrary loan operations are specified in Section 10 of the Library Act and Chapter 3, Section 10 of the Higher Education Act. We comply with these provisions and make literature from our collections available, free of charge, to other universities and higher education institution libraries, as well as public libraries and school libraries. However, we reserve the right to select material which is exempted from this, such as reference literature, original copies of journals, films, and fiction. 

Students at Malmö University with reading difficulties are, after consultation with a librarian, given access to adapted literature via the Swedish Agency for Accessible Media (MTM). Reading difficulties can include dyslexia or other functional impairment. Students do not need a doctor’s note to be given access to adapted literature.

Compulsory course literature missing from the MTM catalogue can be produced upon request. In cases where MTM declines new production, for example for literature which is available commercially in adapted form, the library will instead acquire this literature, subject to availability. This can for example include fiction and upper-secondary school literature. 

The University Library regularly evaluates and maintains collections with the aid of user statistics and bibliometrics, to ensure optimal use of resources and premises. 

In order for you to get a library card and use the library’s resources, we save information regarding your name, personal ID number, telephone, e-mail, and address.

To compile statistics, your total number of loans, the number of interlibrary loans, the loan category, and home library are also stored. The legal grounds for processing is an agreement. 

The data will be processed while your account is active and will then be deleted. Inactive accounts are deleted after two years, if the account holders do not actively end their agreements earlier. If you have an outstanding debt with the library, it will remain registered until it has been settled.

You can review the data registered about you, or comment on the processing or the information collected, by contacting the Malmö University Library or the university’s data protection ombudsman at dataskyddsombyd@mau.se. Complaints that cannot be solved within Malmö University can be forwarded to the Data Protection Authority.