Borrowing Books

If a library visitor asks us:

How many books can I check out?

or

How many books can I take out of the library?

or

How many books can I take home?

or

How many books can I borrow?

the quickest answer would be:

It depends.

This is not a very helpful or informative reply, so it would be better to ask for more information about the library visitor in order to answer more completely. For example:

That depends. Are you an undergraduate or graduate student?

While preparing our answer, it may be worth remembering that in English, the verbs can and may are often used as if they were the same. From an early age, native English speakers are taught that it is more polite to use may for situations where we are asking permission for something. This is based on the fact that the verb can suggests that something is physically possible, but the verb may means that it is allowed. The verb can is not wrong in this case, but it is not the most respectful. The difference between

Can I leave class early today?

and

May I leave class early today?

is that if we are physically able to walk out of the classroom, then we can leave the class early. If we are asking to be excused by an ajarn, it is more polite and formal to use the verb may. When speaking with library visitors, all staff want to be as polite as possible, so even if the visitor uses the informal verb can, it is best to reply with the verb showing politeness, may. So to reply to the question:

How many books can I take home?

we might first say:

That depends.

and then add the practical information:

Undergraduates may have 20 items checked out for 15 days.

Graduate students may have 40 items checked out for 15 days.

Note that we include the words checked out. Otherwise the student might be confused and think that the TU Libraries rule is that undergraduates may take out 20 books at a time, and the next day, take out 20 more books. The rule is that at any given time, 20 items may be checked out to the account of undergraduate students. And at any given time, 40 items may be checked out to the account of graduate students.

If the visitor replies:

I am a lecturer.

then we may add:

Faculty or researchers may have up to 60 items checked out for one semester.

In some cases, once we find what the status of visitors may be, we can save time by giving the answer that best applies to them. For example, unaffiliated readers, who are not students or ajarns, but have paid a membership fee, are also permitted to borrow a limited number of books:

Unaffiliated readers may have five items checked out for 15 days.

Among the other potential categories is if visitors are university staff, in which case we may tell them:

University employees may have 20 items checked out for 15 days.   

In all cases when giving this information, it is helpful to remind visitors that this information may be seen on the TU Libraries website. We tell them this not to avoid replying to specific questions, but that if they forget what we have said or do not fully understand all the details, they can look up the information later if they wish.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)