Patron Reference FAQ
How do I pay my fines?

Only full-time staff members can address patron fines, between 9am-5pm on weekdays. Please direct all questions about Chemistry Library “owned” fines to the full-time staff.

If the patron would like to pay with a card or pay outside of regular business hours, they must do so at Van Pelt. They may also call Van Pelt to pay over the phone with a card.

Who do I talk to about issues with fines?

Issues with fines related to Chemistry materials should be brought to the attention of your supervisors. If a supervisor is not present, please ask the patron to return to or contact the library during regular business hours (9am-5pm, weekdays).

Issues with fines on materials from other libraries must be addressed at the library from which the material came. EZ Borrow, Borrow Direct, and ILL fine issues should be taken to Van Pelt.

How do I renew my books?

Patrons may renew their books in person at the library, but we recommend that they take advantage of the convenience of renewing their books from their Penn Libraries account. To do so, they should navigate to the Libraries home page, click “login” in the upper right hand corner, and enter their Pennkey and Password. They will then be taken to a page that summarizes their current loans, where they can select and renew items instantly.

In some cases, an item will not be renewable. EZ Borrow, Borrow Direct, and Interlibrary Loan books are not eligible for renewal. Some Penn books with outstanding staff requests placed on them may also be blocked for renewal. If a patron is unable to renew an item that they believe should be renewable, please direct them to a full time member of staff.

How do I access my library account online?

Go to the Penn Libraries home page, click “login” in the upper right hand corner of the page, and enter your Pennkey and Password.

What do I do if a desired book/resource is unavailable?

1. Ask the patron to double check that the item is unavailable in Franklin, or assist them in doing so
2. If we do not have the item they require, please skip to part 4
3. If the item should be available, double check the shelf location
   1. If the item is not there, notify your supervisors so that the item may be marked missing, then direct the patron to use one of the resources in step 4
4. If the desired item is unavailable, direct the patrons to one of the following services, collectively known as “Resource Sharing,” available via links on the Franklin home page. There are several ways to get to the Resource Sharing page, one of which is to go to the Franklin home page, navigate to the “Other Resources” box on the left side, and click on “BorrowDirect/E-ZBorrow.” If that link has moved, there is usually another link in the list of resources in the blue bar at the bottom of the page.
   1. The loan terms for these services are as follows:
      1. EZ Borrow (12 wk loan)
      2. ILL (12 wk loan)
      3. Borrow Direct (16 wk loan)
   2. EZB and BD items should arrive at Van Pelt in a few business days, but ILL items may take longer, depending on availability. Depending on the Libraries delivery schedule, EZB, BD, and ILL books may take a few days longer to reach MPA or other departmental libraries.  

How do I request that a book/resource be added to our collection?

If a patron would like to request that a book or resource be permanently added to our collection, they may contact our MPA Librarian, Lauren Gala, to put in a formal request.

 

What printing and copying services are available?

Paid printing is available using Penn Cards that have been loaded with money via the PennCash system. Refer patrons to instructional signage that will walk them through the PennCash loading process. Other signage provides instructions for downloading the Chemistry printer drivers to a personal laptop, in case patrons prefer to print directly from their personal device.

• Black and white single-sided: $.07 per page
• Black and white double-sided: $.05 per side ($.10 per sheet)
• Color single-sided: $.28 per page
• Color double-sided: $.20 per side ($.40 per sheet)

Free color scanning is available at the public computing station.

What specialty software do we provide in our computer lab?

Our Computer Lab provides access to multiple programs: https://guides.library.upenn.edu/computing-public/software-titles

To Find a list of all available programs: Chemistry Library homepage >> Guides & trainings (type: software) >> Software titles on Computing Services at the Penn Libraries >> see list of available software.

There is also a look-up station for quick access to Franklin the library online catalog and the Internet.

How do I print from the computer workstation?

On the computer workstation:

1. Select PRINT from the application (i.e. Firefox, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Word, etc.).
2. In the print dialog box confirm the printer you want to use is selected (i.e. Library Black and White, Library Color) then make any necessary choices such as "Page number range," etc...
3. Click OK, or "Print" as appropriate to send your job.
4. In the Print Job Details dialog box that appears, type a username to help locate your job in the print queue, a password that will be used to release your job, and a name for the job itself.
5. Click the Print button or hit the "Enter" key.
6. Go to the release station to print your job.

At the printing release station:

1. Swipe your Penncards or Penn Cash Card through the card reader to logon to the print system. The stripe should face the arrows on the card reader and the card should be swiped from left to right.
2. Jobs are sorted by username. Locate the username you used when you sent the job. Select the specific job by the Job name you entered earlier.
3. Click PRINT.
4. You will be prompted to enter the password you chose when you sent the job.
5. The job will print.

Troubleshooting: If the Pharos printing program has disappeared from the printing station desktop, or if the screen appears to be frozen, please restart the printing station machine (hover over power icon in lower right corner, select “restart” from power options). After it restarts and the desktop appears, give it a minute or so to reload the Pharos program (DO NOT try to login to the Pharos station program as it’s restarting—it should initiate on its own). If the Pharos program doesn’t reset itself after a couple of minutes, notify your supervisor so she may report the issue to LTS.

How do I put money on my Penncards?

You can add value to your PennCash account two ways:

• Online: Patrons may log in on the PennCash.com website, where they can make a deposit using a credit or debit card or by charging their Student Financial Services Account.
• Penncards Center: Card holders can add value at the Penncards Center using Visa, Mastercard, cash or check.

How do I print from my laptop?

The Penn Libraries use Pharos' Uniprint software to manage printing to our public printers in all the Libraries. Patrons can download software to their Windows or Mac personal computers and once configured, can send print jobs to Library

For full instructions, guide patrons to the Penn Libraries printing Lib Guide, which can be found at the following address. There are also instructional signs at the print station: https://guides.library.upenn.edu/scanprintcopy/laptop