Borrowing from TRLN & UNC System

Cooperative Borrowing from TRLN & UNC System

Faculty, currently enrolled students, administration officials, and University staff members may use their Campus ID Card to borrow books from any Triangle Research Libraries Network (Duke, NC State, and NC Central) and UNC System institution libraries. Your Campus ID Card is your library card at institution libraries. You may need to present your Campus ID Card at each campus’ main library for registration purposes before using other libraries on that campus. Familiarize yourself with the policies and restrictions of the library from which you borrow.

Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing

To facilitate scholarly research and communication among members of their faculties, the university research libraries (members of the Association of Research Libraries) of OCLC have established a program to provide broader access to scholarly materials. Under the guidance of the Research Libraries Advisory Committee to OCLC (RLAC), the libraries have developed an agreement to extend library privileges to faculty members of other research universities that are ARL members.

The program generally applies to faculty based on the main campus of the participating institution. The home institution determines who is eligible for a Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program card. The lending library determines whether the card will be accepted for on-site use/and or borrowing.

See a list of all participating institutions.

How Faculty Participate

Privileges vary from institution to institution. Faculty members intending to visit a participating library should ask their home libraries to check online in the OCLC Name-Address Directory for the limitations and relevant policies and practices of the prospective lending library.

A faculty member from an institution participating in the Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program may request a Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program card from their home library. To borrow materials, the visiting faculty member must present the Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program card and any other identification the lending library requires at the main campus library of any participating institution.

It is the responsibility of the faculty member to…


  • Ask the home library to check the OCLC online Name-Address Directory record for information pertinent to the institution they plan to visit.
  • Present identification when requesting a Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program card from the home library and show that card, along with other required identification, when borrowing materials from another library.
  • Observe the regulations of the lending library.
  • Return materials, in person or by mail, within the loan period prescribed by the lending library.
  • Return materials immediately, in person or by express mail, if recalled by the lending library.
  • Pay any and all fines or other charges incurred due to late return of materials or damage to materials.

Please note that this is a program of privileges. At its discretion, a participating institution may suspend the privileges of its own faculty members or of the faculty members of another participating institution.