primary mission

The primary mission of Morton Library is to serve the students and faculty of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (BTSR) and of Union Presbyterian Seminary. In addition, the Library maintains "partner" library agreements with certain academic institutions in the Richmond area so that our students can have access to their resources.

The William Smith Morton Library is a valued resource of the UPSem community, and it provides access to its collection as well as bibliographic instruction and other services to the students and faculty of BTSR.

The policies set forth in this document seek to
§ support the educational mission of both schools;
§ ensure for all patrons maximum access to the collection;
§ preserve the collection;
§ satisfy consortial agreements with libraries involved in the OCLC interlibrary loan system, and with certain local partner libraries through bilateral agreements;
§ permit access to the library’s collection to individuals in the church and visiting scholars interested in pursuing serious research and/or instruction.

Patron Registration

All patrons must present an up-to-date William Smith Morton library card with user barcode in order to check out materials from the collection. This card will also allow access through the turnstile at the Library's main entrance.

All users must be prepared to accept this statement :
I agree to abide by all regulations and use policies of the Morton Library.

For details about membership eligibility, please click HERE and HERE.

Proxy Privileges for Teaching Assistants

Students who serve as graduate teaching assistants for faculty members may also be registered as proxy patrons for the faculty member with whom they work. Notification of teaching assistant responsibilities must come from the Dean's office or an individual professor. This patron status allows the teaching assistant to borrow materials on behalf of the faculty member. This does require a second library card that is clearly identified as a proxy card, and students must use this card when borrowing material for a faculty member. The loan periods associated with this card are the same as loan policies related to authorized faculty and any circulation activity will display on both the faculty member and proxy patron accounts.

Extension Members

Guest patrons must present some form of photo identification that includes their current address. Guest patrons living over 50 miles from Morton Library will be classified as Extension Patrons. When checking out materials in person at the library, Extension patrons must produce their patron barcode. Materials shipped to Extension patrons will ONLY be shipped to the address on their photo ID card. For further information on the Extension Program, click HERE.

Alumni/ae of Union, PSCE or BTSR

Alumni/ae patrons are asked to indicate on their registration form the year of their graduation and the degree that they completed.  For Alumni/ae borrowing privileges, click HERE.  For information about electronic resources available to alumni, click HERE.

Course Reserve Materials

Most materials placed on reserve are located in the library’s Reserve Reading Room. However, media will be kept on reserve in the Instructional Resource Center, and items on closed reserve will be available at the Circulation Desk.

Material on reserve must be used in the Reserve Reading Room (except for photocopying) or, in the case of media, in the Instructional Resource Center.

Some reserve material can be checked out overnight. A patron can borrow no more than two reserve books or two reserve visual media items overnight, and such materials can only be checked out 2 hours before the library closes. Such items must be returned by 9:30 a.m. the following morning or an overdue fine will be attached to the patron’s record. See fine schedule HERE.

A faculty member may check out items that they have placed on reserve to use in class. In this instance, the circulation staff will enter a due date for the material to be returned to the reserve collection.

Interlibrary Loan

The library provides interlibrary loan services only to UPSem or BTSR students, staff and faculty. Because Morton library is responsible for returning items on time to the library from which an interlibrary loan has been received, it is essential that patrons return such materials on or before their due date.

An overdue notice will be sent to a patron via email the day after an interlibrary loan item in his or her possession is due. The notice will indicate that a fine of $1 a day per item is being charged to the patron’s account. Items overdue 7 days or more will cause a library patron’s privileges to be suspended.

Patrons holding an overdue interlibrary loaned item are responsible for all fines and/or replacement costs charged to Morton Library by the lending library.

Instructions for placing an interlibrary loan request may be found HERE.

Borrowing from Partner Libraries

Faculty, staff and currently-enrolled students of UPSem and BTSR also have the privilege of borrowing items from partner libraries in the Richmond area. These libraries are members of the Richmond Academic Library Consortium, or RALC (with the exception of VUU). For access to the Union Catalog of RALC libraries, click HERE.

You will need to come to our Circulation Desk or our Reference Desk and ask for a "RALC slip" -- a small piece of paper that we will fill in for you, allowing you to borrow up to five items at a time free of charge from one of these libraries. You need a new "RALC slip" every time you visit one of these libraries with the intention of borrowing items. We will ask to see your current and valid William Smith Morton Library card.

For information about using databases and electronic resources at VCU, click HERE.

Patrons who wish to borrow media items from partner libraries should make those arrangements with the staff in our Instructional Resource Center.

The borrower will be responsible for returning all items when they are due, to the library from which they were borrowed. The borrower will be liable for any overdue fines or other penalty charges.

 

Phone (804) 278-4310
Library Fax (804) 278-4375
IRC Fax (804) 278-4374
Website : http://library.upsem.edu
Address : 3401 Brook Road, Richmond, Virginia 23227
For a map of our campus location, click HERE.