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circ:circulation:long_overdue

Staff Workflows for Long Overdue Processing in PINES

About the Long Overdue Feature

Batch Processing

Items that are overdue for longer than 3 months are automatically changed to a status of LONG OVERDUE (unless the patron has been flagged for collections). The process runs on a nightly basis. The price of the item, plus an optional processing fee of up to $10 (set per library in the Library Settings Editor), is applied to the patron’s account. Overdue fines on the item are automatically voided.

What the Automated Process Does

Evergreen marks the item as Long Overdue in the borrowing patron’s account automatically through a Notification/Action Trigger. This process runs each night and affects any item that has become 91 days overdue. Only those items with a status of Checked Out and that are not flagged for collections and that are not marked as Claims Returned will be processed by the system as Long Overdue. At this point, staff action is not needed. Several actions will take place:

  • The item status is changed to Long Overdue.
  • The item is made invisible in the public-facing OPAC (staff will be able to see it through the Evergreen Staff Client).
  • The item is not be available for holds.
  • The item is moved to the Other/Special Circulations section of the Items Out screen in the patron’s account.
  • The accrual of overdue fines stops.
  • Any overdue fines are voided from the account.
  • The borrowing patron is billed for the item price. The default price is $25.01 for items with no price entered in item attributes.
  • The borrowing patron is billed the owning library’s Long Overdue processing fee (if any).

All processing follows existing PINES policy. See the PINES Circulation Policies and Procedures Manual for more information.

System Settings

Long-Overdue Materials Processing Fee

Staff Permissions

All staff have the permission to check in a Long Overdue item. If a staff member that should be able to override checkins on Long Overdue items is unable to do so, please enter a Help Desk ticket with that staff member’s Evergreen login ID.

Staff Workflow

Checking in a Long Overdue Item

When an item marked Long Overdue through automated processing is checked in, an alert will appear on the screen informing the staff member that the item was Long Overdue. Staff must acknowledge the message to proceed. Once checked in at the owning library, the item will go into the status of Reshelving and then becomes Available after the reshelving interval passes.

If the item is checked in at a library other than its owning library, the item will be placed In Transit to its owning library for processing. The item cannot immediately fill a hold or circulate and must return to the owning library for resolution.

Automatic processes that will occur at Long Overdue check-in (no staff action is required):

  • If the item is checked in before payment and within six months of being marked Long Overdue, the overdue fines will be reinstated and the item price will be voided. The library’s processing fee (if present) will not be voided.
  • If an item is checked in after payment and within six months of payment, the item price will be refunded, the Long Overdue processing fee will be retained, and overdue fines that had been voided will be reinstated on the patron’s account. The library’s processing fee will not be refunded. Please be aware that in some instances, the patron may owe additional money for the item after this happens. This can occur if the item price is less than the maximum overdue fine.
  • If an item is checked in more than six months after payment (or more than six months after being marked Long Overdue if payment was not made), no monies are refunded and the overdue fines are not reinstated.
  • If a Long Overdue item is checked in after it has been deleted, the item will not be retrievable at check in and will act as any other deleted item.

Staff actions required at Long Overdue check-in:

  • Staff must acknowledge system message alerting them the item checked in is Long Overdue.
  • Staff should follow any local procedures for handling returned local Long Overdue materials. This may include but not be limited to:
    • Investigating item bills to see if monies should be refunded.
    • Sending the item to collection development to determine if the item should be returned to circulation or withdrawn from the collection.
  • If the item is no longer in the database, local handling procedures should be followed.
  • If the item is returned to another library, no additional staff action is needed other than to put the transit slip with the item and process it for transit.

Handling Refunds

If a Long Overdue item has been paid for, a refund may be due the patron. Local procedures for refunding monies should be followed. Best practice is to investigate the Long Overdue item at check in and handle according to local policies as soon as possible.

Staff can also check for potential refunds under Admininistration > Local Administration > Patrons with Negative Balances. Entries should be investigated since some negative balances are due to other circumstances.

More information regarding negative balances and refunds can be found at Reconciling Negative Balances.

Deleting Long Overdue Items That Have Been Paid For

Best practice is to wait more than 6 months after payment to delete an item. If staff checks in an item that has been paid for prior to deleting it, the system will assume the patron returned it and refund the item price and reinstate overdue fines. Waiting to delete the item will ensure that monies are not refunded unnecessarily.

A report template that lists items that were marked Long Overdue and paid for more than 6 months prior is available at:

  • Shared Folders > Templates > ddale > Helpdesk Request > Collection Maintenance > Lost or Long Overdue and Paid Item List

Historical Documents

Note: These documents were created at the time Long Overdue was implemented when the process was triggered at 6 months. The process is now triggered at 3 months, but is otherwise unchanged.

circ/circulation/long_overdue.txt · Last modified: 2024/09/24 15:21 by smorrison