Loan Periods for Bowdoin Materials

Borrow Materials / ILL

A valid Bowdoin ID card must be presented to borrow materials from the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, Hatch Science Library, Pierce Art Library, or Robert K. Beckwith Music Library.


For most books and government documents, loan periods are:
Bowdoin Faculty One year See Detailed List of Loan Periods
Bowdoin Students Twenty-eight days, with two renewals.

Students registered for Honors Projects or Independent Studies will be able to borrow books for an entire semester.
Bowdoin Staff Six months
Reserve materials, periodicals, display books, audio cassettes, videorecordings, and compact discs circulate for shorter periods of time. Materials in the Art Library and the Language Media Center do not circulate.


Guests Visitors without library cards may use, in-house, the book and periodical collections of the campus libraries; there is no charge for this access.


Library cards are available for a fee of $35.00 per year ($15.00 per year for each additional family members) to adult residents of Brunswick and towns in the immediate vicinity. Applications are available at the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library Circulation Desk. Circulation staff will mail the card about one week after the application is received. Once they receive their library card, guest borrowers may use it to borrow circulating books and audiocassettes for two weeks, and videorecordings for in-library viewing.