Using Policy Preferences

The Policies window is divided into two distinct sections that function independently of one another and allow you to create or customize the settings of a particular Patron or Item policy.

An operator can move through any of the subtabs located at the top of the window (Check Out, Overdue, and Other) at any time, no matter the current mode (i.e. Standard or Exceptions).

Standard Mode

Every patron must belong to a Patron policy; the rules of a particular Patron policy apply to every patron under that policy. An Item policy will be applied to every item in your collection; the rules of a particular Item policy apply to every item under that policy.

The settings of a particular Patron policy apply to every Item policy. For example, selecting 3rd Grade as your Patron policy and changing the Maximum Loaned Items to 6 will limit every patron in the third grade to six items of any Item policy, whether it be Fiction or Non-Fiction.

Exceptions Mode

The standard settings configured in the subtabs of the Patron Policy and Item Policy sections are considered the general rules for the selected patron and item groups (e.g. 6th Grade and eBook). Exceptions to the way these combined policy groups interact in Standard Mode can be adjusted by clicking the Exceptions tab. Clicking the Exceptions tab will turn it red, indicating that you are in Exceptions Mode. This mode allows you to modify the behavior and relationships between selected patron and item policies and, hence, further customize your policy settings. For example:

• You can make an exception that items belonging to the Reference policy only circulate to members belonging to the Staff patron policy. While the standard Transaction Period for the Reference item policy could be set to “0” Days, an exception to the policy could be made so that the patron Staff policy may check out the reference books for “3” Days.

Exceptions can be made to every policy combination via the fields, dropdown menus, and checkboxes contained in the Check Out, Overdue, and Other Policy subtabs. One rule of thumb when creating an exception is to set up the policy how it would apply to the majority of users and then set up the exceptions. When you Save your changes, the fields, dropdown menus, or checkboxes with exceptions will be highlighted in red, indicating that they are exceptions to the default standards.

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Once you’ve finished, click the Exceptions tab again to deactivate Exceptions Mode. Any Policies subtab that contains an exception will display an Alert icon (i.e. warning sign) to the left of the subtab name; this indicates that an exception is present for the selected Patron/Item policy combination. If you were to switch to a policy that has no exceptions, there would be no Alert icons.

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To remove exceptions, click on the Exceptions tab followed by either Actions dropdown menu located at the bottom of the Patron policy section (on the left) or the Item policy section (on the right). To remove an individual Exception, select (highlight) the field, dropdown menu, or checkbox that contains the exception and select Remove Patron/Item Exceptions from the relevant Actions menu. You may also select Remove All Exceptions from either Actions menu to remove all of the exceptions from the combined patron and item policy.

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Read Policy Exceptions for more information and step-by-step instructions.