Bioscience, Natural Resources & Public Health Library

Borrow

The UC Berkeley Library’s collections are rich and bountiful — and they’re waiting to be explored by members of the UC Berkeley community and knowledge-seekers everywhere. Use UC Library Search, the University of California’s all-in-one-platform for discovery, to find books, journals, articles, and more, and check them out at libraries across the Berkeley campus and at other UC schools. Learn more about borrowing Library materials.

Policies and loan periods

Using resources in the library: UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of the public, are welcome to visit the Bioscience, Natural Resources & Public Health Library and use both print and electronic library resources within the library.

Conduct: Read the UC Berkeley Library’s Code of Conduct.

Borrowing items: Circulating items at the Bioscience, Natural Resources & Public Health Library may be checked out using a UC Berkeley photo ID card (Cal 1 Card) or a current library card.

Obtaining a UC Berkeley Library card: Please see the Borrow + renew page of the main UC Berkeley Library website.

Loan periods for circulating items vary depending on the type of material and the borrower:

• Books (print and CD)
  • Cookbooks: 7 days
  • All others 
    • Berkeley faculty and staff: 6 months, 7 renewals
    • Berkeley graduate students: 3 months, 11 renewals
    • Berkeley undergraduates, nonacademic staff, alumni, and others: 1 month, 11 renewals
• Journals
  • Current issues: Library use only
  • Unbound: Library use only
  • Bound: 7 days, 11 renewals
  • CD: 7 days
• Reserves
  • 2 hours (overnight OK; includes most textbooks)
  • 1 day
  • 7 days
• DVDs
  • 7 days
• Microfilm
  • Berkeley borrowers: 1 day
  • All others: Library use only
• Microfiche
  • Library use only
• Reference
  • Library use only
• Maps
  • 1 week or library use only
• Locked case
  • Library use only

Locked case items cannot be checked out but may be used within the library. Locked case items must be requested at the Circulation Desk and may only be used when the Reference Desk is staffed.

Returns: Borrowers are responsible for either returning items by the due date, or renewing books before the due date has elapsed. Books may be returned to the slot on the right hand-side of the Circulation Desk during the library’s open hours.

After-hours book return: The after-hours book return is located on the south side of the Valley Life Sciences Building near the first-floor handicapped-accessible building entrance. Books returned to the after-hours book drop will not be checked back into our system until the following day.

Universal return: Patrons can return checked-out books to any book return on campus. This does not apply to:

• Course reserves, which must be returned to the lending library.
• Interlibrary loan materials, which must be returned to the Interlibrary Borrowing Service (IBS), 133 Doe Library. An after-hours IBS book return is available, Room 133.

Please note that books returned to libraries other than the lending library will remain checked out to the patron until they are delivered to and processed by the lending library, which may take several days.

Overdue, lost, or damaged items

Library borrowers must return or renew items by their due date. Patrons will receive a courtesy reminder via the email address in their account 3 days before library materials are due. Thereafter, overdue notices will be issued 4 days, 14 days, and 30 days after the due date. Borrowing privileges will be blocked and a bill warning will be generated when the second (14-day) overdue notice has been issued. In addition, fines are accrued for overdue reserve items at a rate of $2.50 per hour for 2-hour reserve items and $10 per day for 1-day and 7-day reserve items.

If an item is damaged or lost, borrowers are liable for charges incurred to repair or replace the item; however, a borrower may replace lost or damaged materials with acceptable copies at the discretion of the library unit head. Approval must be attained from the lending library before procuring a replacement. The Library offers advice on how to find replacements for lost library books and serials. Note that replacement copies will not be accepted for Northern Regional Library Facility (NRLF) items.

Borrow from other libraries (Interlibrary Loan/ILL)

UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and students may request items from other libraries. Materials that are already owned by Berkeley are not eligible for interlibrary loan.

Online:

• For journal articles found in databases, after clicking Get it at UC, choose Request through Interlibrary Loan.
• In UC Library Search, navigate to How to get It: Request through Interlibrary Loan.
• For items not found in UC Library Search, use the Interlibrary Loan Request Form.

In person:

• Go to the Bioscience Library’s Reference Desk (2101 VLSB) or the Interlibrary Services office (133 Doe Library)

Interlibrary loan is not available for patrons not affiliated with UC Berkeley. Please contact your local public or academic library to request materials.

Collection

The staff and collections of the Bioscience, Natural Resources & Public Health Library support research, teaching, and learning in all fields related to the life sciences, natural resources, and the health sciences. The collection includes materials in agriculture, bioinformatics, botany, biostatistics, communicable diseases, community health, ecology, environmental science, environmental health, entomology, epidemiology, evolution, forestry, genetics, health administration, international health, maternal and child health, molecular and cell biology, neuroscience, nutrition and food science, nutrition in health and disease, occupational health, optometry, physiology, plant pathology, soil science, toxicology, vision science, and zoology.

The library also has a number of collections that are considered special and/or rare. Examples: a cookbook collection that includes many rare cookbooks; an extensive collection of works by Charles Darwin; materials related to a survey of California vegetation in the 1920s and 1930s (Wieslander VTM survey); and a large collection of early 1900s forestry-related photographs primarily taken by Emanuel Fritz and Woodbridge Metcalf. Information on these and other special collections, including how to access them, is found in the Special Collections Guide.