| What services does
the Professional Library provide for MCPS staff?
The Professional
Library Book Catalog is available on-line. MCPS
employees may reserve a book online by using their Employee
ID Number. The book will be ponied to the employee's
school or office on the next business day. Any book
from our circulating collection may be borrowed for
a month. Books needed for a class may usually be borrowed
for the length of the class.
In addition to the online reservation
system for employees mentioned above, patrons may borrow
books in person, by telephoning (301-279-3227), by faxing
a request (301-279-3072), or by sending a Outlook
message to Professional_Library@mcpsmd.org.
Requests to renew borrowed material may be made in person,
by telephone, by fax, or via Outlook. Books may be
returned in person or via the Pony. Patrons are responsible
for reimbursement for lost or damaged materials.
MCPS employees may request copies
of articles from the journals in our collection by sending
us a copy of the complete bibliographic citation via
Outlook,
pony, or fax (301-279-3072). Please check our Periodical
Holdings List (PDF)
to see if we own the journal before requesting an article.
The Professional Library will copy up to five articles
a day per employee. We can copy only one article at
a time from the same issue of a journal (e.g. the September
1999 issue of Educational Leadership) due to copyright
restrictions.
Copies of our Periodicals Holdings
List may be downloaded from our website or may be consulted
in MCPS school library media centers. MCPS staff may
request that a copy be sent through the pony by calling
301-279-3227.
What happens if our collections
do not include the book or journal article that you
need? The Professional Library manages interlibrary
loan requests from all schools and offices of MCPS through
a partnership with Montgomery County Public Libraries
(MCPL). If you work in a school and need material that
is not available in the school system, please CONTACT
YOUR MEDIA SPECIALIST first. The Media Specialist will
forward your request to the Professional Library. If
you do not have a Media Specialist, please contact the
Professional Library directly.
After searching our databases and
other local library systems to be sure an interlibrary
loan (ILL) request is necessary, the Professional Library
will enter your request in the Montgomery County Public
Library (MCPL) online ILL services system. In addition
to bibliographic information about the item you want,
the Professional Library needs your MCPL 14-digit borrower's
card number, the name of the MCPL branch where you would
like to pick up the item, and an e-mail address so that
MCPL can notify you when the book or article has arrived.
This process can take 3-4 weeks. Start early!
MCPS employees who have Montgomery
County Public Library (MCPL) borrowing cards may also
request materials through interlibrary loan (ILL) themselves
by going to directly to the MCPL web page for Interlibrary
Loan Services. The Professional Library has a handout
explaining how to “do ILL yourself.” You
may request a paper or electronic copy of these instructions
by calling 301-279-3227. |
