Automated Notifications

PINES generates automated notices for a number of reasons and sends various notices by email, SMS text (a form of email that gets translated to text message by the recipient’s phone service provider), and for display in the Patron Message Center. The text of each type of notice is available here:

The automated notices include:

10 Day Overdue Email Notification

10 Day Overdue Notice in PMC

3 Day Courtesy Notice (by Email)

3 Day Courtesy Notice by SMS

3 Day Courtesy Notice in PMC

30 Day Account Expiration Courtesy Notice

6 Month Long Overdue Notice (Email)

6 Month Long Overdue Notice in PMC

60 Day Overdue Notice (Email)

60 Day Overdue Notice (PMC)

Fine Limit Exceeded

Hold Cancelled (Shelf-Expired) Email Notification

Hold Cancelled (Shelf-Expired) User Message (PMC)

Hold Ready for Pickup Email Notification

Hold Ready for Pickup PMC Notification

Hold Ready for Pickup SMS Notification

Item Lost and Billed Email Notification

Item Lost and Billed PMC Notification

New User Created Welcome Notice

Password Reset Request Notification

SMS Call Number

In addition, PINES contracts with a vendor for the following:

10 day overdue notice (Email attempt first, phone call if email fails, USPS mail if both email and phone fail)

30 day overdue letter (Letter sent by USPS)

Letters that cannot be delivered are returned to the patron's home library. The library should mark those patrons' addresses invalid when this occurs.

See also: Wording of Automated Notices

Typical Notifications for an Overdue Item

3 Day Courtesy Notice sent 3 days prior to due date by email (if available) and SMS text (if available), and entered into Patron Message Center.

10 Day Overdue Notice sent by email (if available) and entered into Patron Message Center. Vendor also telephones patrons who do not have a valid email recorded in PINES, and if they cannot be reached by phone then vendor sends a letter.

30 Day Overdue letter sent by vendor via USPS.

60 Day Overdue Notice sent by email (if available) and entered into Patron Message Center.

6 Month Long Overdue Notice sent by email (if available) and entered into Patron Message Center.

Fine Limit Exceeded is emailed when a patron reaches their fine limit (usually $10.00). This can be for any type of fines and fees.

Pre-Overdue Notices ("Preminders")

PINES sends a “pre-overdue” or “preminder” courtesy notice via email 3-days prior to the due date of an item [2007.05]. Beginning January 2017, PINES also began sending preminders via SMS text service.

Patrons should be aware that although PINES sends preminders, it is a courtesy only. Some email and SMS text providers may block the preminder emails at the server level, preventing them from arriving at their destinations. The patron is ultimately responsible for returning or renewing items by their due dates whether or not the preminders are received.

Overdue Notices

Overdue notices are sent as a courtesy from the libraries. Failure to receive notices does not exempt patrons from the responsibility for library materials or overdue fines. Notices are generated and mailed centrally.

The first overdue notice is generated at 10 days past the due date of an item. These 10-day overdue notices are sent via email to those patrons with email addresses in their user records [2007.02], and patrons without email addresses are telephoned (via a telephone notice service that PINES contracts with) [2011.05].

The final (30-day) overdue notice is sent via US Mail.

Historical Note: The Executive Committee voted that PINES will issue 7- and 14-day overdue notices to patrons. Mandatory budget reductions for GPLS in summer 2009 necessitated a change to a single 10-day notice to replace the 7- and 14-day notices. The 30-day notice remains intact, as required by Georgia law [1999.10], [2009.09].

Sending / Bounceback Address

Although the automated notifications get sent from the PINES server, they are configured to appear that they come from the patron's home library. This reinforces consistency to the patron regarding their home library is and who they should contact for questions, payments, renewals, etc.

The email address used as the sending address can be the same address as the library's main contact email address, it can be a generic address that multiple staff have access to, or it can be the email address of the branch manager or circulation manager. If no email address is set up in the “Sending email address for patron notices” library setting, then the emails will be sent from the branch contact email address. Libraries cannot remove all contact email addresses [2020.09].

The staff member(s) that monitors the email address should make note of “bouncebacks” (aka, undelivered mail notices) and update the associated patron accounts by marking their email addresses invalid on the Patron Edit screen.