Patrons and Policies

Library Policies

Censorship Statement

Academic institutions are predicated on the search for knowledge. In research and inquiry, espousal and refutation, there should be no prohibited topics. We subscribe to the ALA Library Bill of Rights, especially Article II: “Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”

Collection Development Policy

Responsibility for the selection of materials lies with both Thiel faculty, who recommend additions for their disciplines, and library staff, who maintain reference, databases, and general interest collections. The following factors are considerations in the recommendation of addition or removal of materials:

• Relevance to the curriculum
• Research needs of the students and of the faculty
• Literary quality and/or critical recognition
• Accuracy, validity, currency or timeliness, and reputation
• Cost and condition
• Diversity of opinion, global outlook
• Appropriateness to anticipated users in level and format
• Relationship to existing holdings

The Library holds primarily English language materials, although some items in other languages are available. Current textbooks may be added to the reserves collection at the request of an instructor.

Information Literacy Statement

Thiel College librarians actively support and promote the positions taken by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries), a division of the American Library Association, dealing with information literacy and information literacy competency standards. 

Interlibrary Loan Policy

Materials that the library does not own can be borrowed from other libraries through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). The Library processes ILL requests in the order in which they are received. Please factor in sufficient time for your request to be processed and for the item to arrive. Books are sent through the mail, and articles are received electronically. ILL articles will be sent to patrons by email in the form of a password-protected link and will come from the email address donotreply@oclc.org, listed as "Sent from OCLC." Patrons should access the article immediately, as the link will expire. 

ILLs can be requested through links in the TOMCATalog and library databases, or by emailing ill@thiel.edu. Please include the title, author, edition, and, if possible, the ISBN in your email.

The Library reserves the right to deny ILL requests due to copyright restrictions, patrons having other overdue ILL loans, or excessive requests that exceed staff availability. Please email ill@thiel.edu with any questions.

Research Guides

Library Research Guides on topics for current and past courses can be found on the Library's Moodle page under the "Library Online" tab: >Library Online >Online Langenheim Memorial Library.

Privacy Policy

Langenheim Library respects our patrons' right to privacy and observes state and federal laws regarding the disclosure of personal information from library records.

• Confidential records include registration files, circulation records, reference (print and electronic) searches and interlibrary loan requests. Limited information may be shared with the Thiel Business Office.
• “Records related to the circulation of library materials which contain the names or other personally identifying details regarding the users of the State Library or any local library which is established or maintained under any law of the Commonwealth or the library of any university, college or educational institution chartered by the Commonwealth or the library of any public school or branch reading room, deposit station or agency operated in connection therewith, shall be confidential and shall not be made available to anyone except by a court order in a criminal proceeding.”—Pennsylvania law, 24 PS, Section 428
• Sections 214-216 of the USA Patriot Act allow the FBI to obtain search warrants for library circulation records, Internet use records, email, books, floppy disks and computer hard drives. They need only to claim the records may be relevant to an ongoing terrorism investigation. It is illegal for librarians to disclose the existence of such warrants. The Patriot Act currently overrides state law.

Community Patrons

Residents of Greenville and nearby communities are welcome to use the facilities and resources of the Langenheim Memorial Library at no charge. There is a $10 annual fee (no fee if parent or spouse is employed at Thiel) to check out circulating materials. Application for a community card can be found at the circulation desk.

Copyright Policy

•  Thiel College Library Policy for use of materials