POLICY:

The DHMC Security Department is authorized to open the Matthews-Fuller Health Sciences Library to accommodate specific research and urgent patient-care needs that occur after posted library hours. Individuals requesting after-hours access should do so only after identifying the specific titles of books or journals they wish to use.

Access under this policy is only provided to the professional staff of Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic/Lebanon, to Dartmouth Medical School faculty, and to Dartmouth Medical School students.

No books or journals may be taken from the library. Copies should be made in the library using the individual's copy card.

Access to the library after hours is NOT provided for: general study purposes, routine or extended research, browsing the collection, or computer workstation use. Searches of databases, such as Medline or the library's catalog, should be performed at workstations outside of the library. Individuals who abuse this policy will be barred from further after-hours access.

DHMC personnel have 24-hour access to medical literature databases and other information resources using computers in their offices and homes, or at workstations throughout the medical center. Many of these resources may be found through the Biomedical Libraries Web.

PROCEDURE:

1. The individual requesting access contacts the Security Department at extension 7896 or pager 9381. A security officer will be dispatched to meet the individual at the library. The individual requesting access must present an appropriate identification card. The security officer will admit the individual into the library.
2. The library user will complete an "After-Hours Access" form provided by the security officer from a supply in the library. The completed form should be left on the library's circulation desk for library staff to review.
3. The security officer may stay in the library with the individual or leave them for up to one hour in the locked library. The library user will leave when finished, verifying that the door shuts and locks behind them.
4. The security officer will return to the library after one hour to ensure that the individual has left and that the library is locked and secure.