The Metro Referral Card


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Questions often arise about Manhattan College students and faculty using other libraries in the region. METRO, a cooperative network of academic and public libraries, has devised the METRO referral card to permit on-site use of many area libraries. The METRO libraries have agreed to the following guidelines for the use of this card.

THE YELLOW METRO REFERRAL CARD (for access to a specific item)

The yellow METRO card is intended for a specific referral and not for general use of another library. The bearer should need a work that is not available in his or her college library or in a public library. The specific request should be written on the card, which is issued by a reference librarian at the requestor's library.
The referral card cannot be issued merely for the personal convenience of the reader, such as proximity of another academic library to his or her home.
Before a referral is made, a reference librarian in the issuing library determines whether its resources or a public library do not meet the reader's needs
The issuing library calls the host library to verify ownership of the title needed and to ascertain whether the reader will be admitted. Access to another library does not guarantee that materials will be available at a particular time.
The host library collects the referral card when it is first presented and determines the length of time the reader may use the library.
The METRO referral card permits only on-site use of the item cited on the card. It does not authorize the borrowing of books from the host library.

THE BLUE METRO REFERRAL CARD (for subject access)
The blue METRO card provides access to selected area libraries for materials on a specific subject not covered by the home library or public libraries. The guidelines for the blue METRO card are similar to that of the yellow METRO card.

The Columbia University Libraries and the New York University Libraries have restrictive access policies. Library users should determine if the Research Libraries of the New York Public Library have what they need before seeking access to Columbia or NYU.

Our library is also a member of the Westchester Academic Library Directors Organization (WALDO) which includes over two dozen libraries in Westchester, the Bronx, and other local areas. Manhattan College students and faculty do not need METRO cards for the on-site use of local WALDO Libraries.