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Lost and Returned Items


  • he old behavior was based on the Circulation Rules preference "Charge Overdue Fines on Lost Items". That preference is being replaced with a dialog about any previous payments that the operator may want to think about and also that there is no longer the option to add a found fee.
    • Charge Overdue on Lost Items – removed because we'll do this automatically
    • Charge Returned Lost Item Fee – removed because everyone has the option to do so. who is everyone?
  • Lost and Overdue charges are tracked and recorded separately. 
  • The copy will be returned to being checked out from lost, to whomever it was checked out to originally. That is, unless the operation happens when the copy is being checked out to a different patron.

Older lost items

There is no conversion for older lost transactions.

  • It is possible to identify older transactions because they all have a due date set to the far future. This should not be a normal due date in any check out transactions.
    • If such a transaction is found AND it is not checked out to a system patron AND there is a charge, THEN the patron balance is adjusted to remove that.
    • An alert is shown advising the operator to make adjustments in the Charges/Payments tab if they want.
    • If payments had been made for the charge then that is added to the alert is shown and a log message is added.
Terminology
TermDefinition
Lost chargeFee charged to patron for the cost of the item.
Overdue chargeFee charged to patron who
Fine
Pending fine
Charge

Preferences

Much of how your late and lost item fees were handled was set in Preferences > Circulation > Circulation Rules. 

  • Charge Overdue Fines on Lost Items. This is now done automatically. If you don't want to charge an overdue fine, you can forgive the charge. 
    •  

Losing an item

When an item is lost, 


ALERT: Jenn 20181130 I think the spec needs some cleaning up in any areas that mention behavior AFTER the lost item has been processed as found.  Before, the expected behavior was that is was checked back out to the patron that lost it (as the step above shows)... but after talking to Betsy the behavior has changed and apparently the item is now book dropped and the status made ‘Available’.  I was about to reopen ALEX-9282 because I was unaware that the behavior had changed (until I talked to Betsy).

OLD Losing an item

1

mark it as lost (check out to patron 1, or say ‘lost’ in Renewals)

2

are you sure?

3

yes

4

IF ‘charge overdue on lost items’ pref, (and there is a fine rate), charge overdue fines


IF NOT ^ pref, overdues aren’t charged

5

if replacement cost, charge lost item fee; can pay/forgive now

NEW Losing an item

1

mark it as lost (check out to patron 1, or say ‘lost’ in Renewals)

2

are you sure?

3

yes

4

if replacement cost, charge lost item fee; can pay/forgive now

5

if overdue (and there is a fine rate), charge overdue fines and present payment window

[preference for ‘charge overdue on lost items’ no longer needed; removed]

Declare Lost > Yes > Lost Item Fee dialog


Check Replacement cost and charge Lost Item Fee. Can be paid and/or forgiven now (in partial or full).


Next (if there are fines) bring up Overdue Fine window. Can be paid and/or forgiven now (in partial or full).

This is for overdue fines that have accrued up until the item was declared lost.

Paying the fee

Patron can pay (or librarian can forgive) in the initial fee window, or under Charges > Charges, Make Payment.

Previously Paid: Note that if you pay a partial amount, when going to pay the rest, it will show the amount previously paid for this charge, and the original Charge Amount.

Finding a lost item

Occasionally, a patron who has lost a book finds it later, and returns it to the library.

In Circulation, the librarian Bookdrops the item. OR in Circulation the librarian tries to check it out to someone else.

The copy will be returned to being checked out from lost, to whomever it was checked out to originally. That is, unless the operation happens when the copy is being checked out to a different patron.

Alert

‘The pact’ is registered as lost by 1016 Fatima Jayson.

Do you want to return the item to circulation and process Lost Fees and Overdue Fines now?

Once this is done, the item can be checked out.

Cancel Continue

Cancel = close this dialog and cancel the bookdrop entirely

Continue = 

  • The item


NOTE: Why do we have this dialog? Well, the patron who lost the book might not be standing in front of them, and the librarian might NOT want to bookdrop the lost book once they know it’s supposed to be lost; thus we want this choice to be clear.

In the case of suppressed dialogs or inventory scripts, YES is chosen automatically because we assume they have the book in front of them.

NOTE: We want to process the lost independent of the check out; otherwise there are just too many things going on at the same time and far too easy to get confused.

OLD Finding a lost item

1

Trying to bookdrop or check out the item

2

has it been found? Yes.

3

If payments had been made for the lost book, alert that 'x payments were made, go to History to refund’

4

IF pref is ON, charge ‘returned lost item fee amount'

5

Bookdrops the book


The end


There is NO WAY to charge overdues instead; in fact if you were devious, you’d tell the Librarian it was lost, keep it for an extra 2 weeks, then come in and say it was ‘found’! in order to avoid fines.

NEW Finding a lost item

1

Trying to bookdrop or check out the item

2

has it been found? Yes.

3

Options to:

  1. Refund any paid lost item charges
  2. Forgive remaining lost item charges
  3. Charge extra fee

4

Bookdrops the book, or if checking out, checks out.

5

THEN automatically charge overdue fines; open payment window; can forgive/pay from here


The end

[preference for ‘returned lost item fee’ no longer needed; removed]

New functionality to charge overdue on found lost items added.

Scenario 1: 9275

  1. Patron loses an item. 
  2. Item is declared lost.
  3. Dialog: Patron pays for the item in full, partial, or not at all (lost item fee/charge)
  4. Patron finds item. 
  5. Found item is bookdropped. 
  6. The "Process Found Item" dialog WILL appear. 
    1. It will display the correct amounts for Lost Fee Charged and Previous Payments (autofill) 
    2. You can refund the full amount paid to the patron as a credit. (Refund Previous Payments to Credit - editable)
  • If the patron paid the lost item fee in full, they cannot refund their payment as a credit, and the Process Found Item dialog is missing payment/charge information. 

Fixed 7.18.7 20181203. The "Forgive Remaining Lost Fee" field now automatically populates the remaining lost charge balance AND when processing the found lost item the remaining fee is in fact forgiven (regardless if you leave it as the total amount or edit this amount). Tested in Textbook Tracker AND Alex per Betsy's comment.


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