Chapter 25. Borrowing items: who, what, for how long


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Data elements that affect your circulation policies

Copy data
Copy location data

Best practices for creating policies
Settings Relevant to Circulation

Circulation policies pull together user, library, and item data to determine how library materials circulate, such as: which patrons, from what libraries can borrow what types of materials, for how long, and with what overdue fines.

Individual elements of the circulation policies are configured using specific interfaces, and should be configured prior to setting up the circulation policies.

Data elements that affect your circulation policies

There are a few data elements which must be considered when setting up your circulation policies.

Copy data

Several fields set via the copy editor are commonly used to affect the circulation of an item.

Circulation modifier - Circulation modifiers are fields used to control circulation policies on specific groups of items. They can be added to copies during the cataloging process. New circulation modifiers can be created in the staff client by navigating to Admin > Server Administration > Circulation Modifiers.
Circulate? flag - The circulate? flag in the copy editor can be set to False to disallow an item from circulating.
Reference? flag - The reference? flag in the copy editor can also be used as a data element in circulation policies.

Copy location data

To get to the Copy Locations Editor, navigate to Admin > Local Administration > Copy Locations Editor.
Set OPAC Visible to "No" to hide all copies in a copy location from the public catalog. (You can also hide individual copies using the Copy Editor.)
Set Hold Verify to "Yes" if when a copy checks in you want to always ask for staff confirmation before capturing a hold.
Set Checkin Alert to "Yes" to allow routing alerts to display when copies are checked in.
Set Holdable to "No" to prevent copies in an entire copy location from being placed on hold.
Set Circulate to "No" to disallow circulating copies in an entire copy location.
If you delete a copy location, it will be removed from display in the staff client and the catalog, but it will remain in the database. This allows you to treat a copy location as deleted without losing statistical information for circulations related to that copy location.

Copy locations can also be used as a data element in circulation policies.

User data

Finally, several characteristics of specific patrons can affect circulation
policies.  You may modify these characteristics in Search -> Search for Patrons
or Circulation -> Register Patron.

* The user permission group is also commonly used as a data element in
circulation policies.
* Other user data that can be used for circulation policies include the
*juvenile* flag in the user record.

Circulation Rules
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*Loan duration* describes the length of time for a checkout. You can also
identify the maximum renewals that can be placed on an item.

You can find Circulation Duration Rules by navigating to *Admin > Server
Administration > Circulation Duration Rules*.

image::media/circ_duration_rules.jpg[]

*Recurring fine* describes the amount assessed for daily and hourly fines as
well as fines set for other regular intervals. You can also identify any grace
periods that should be applied before the fine starts accruing.

You can find Recurring Fine Rules by navigating to *Admin > Server
Administration > Circulation Recurring Fine Rules*.

image::media/circ_recurring_fine_rules.jpg[]

*Max fine* describes the maximum amount of fines that will be assessed for a
specific circulation. Set the *Use Percent* field to True if the maximum fine
should be a percentage of the item's price.

You can find Circ Max Fine Rules by navigating to *Admin > Server
Administration > Circulation Max Fine Rules*.

image::media/circ_max_fine_rules.jpg[]

These rules generally cause the most variation between organizational units.

Loan duration and recurring fine rate are designed with 3 levels: short, normal,
and extended loan duration, and low, normal, and high recurring fine rate. These
values are applied to specific items, when copy records are created.

When naming these rules, give them a name that clearly identifies what the rule
does. This will make it easier to select the correct rule when creating your
circ policies.

Circulation Limit Sets

Circulation Limit Sets allow you to limit the maximum number of copies for different types of materials that a patron can check out at one time. Evergreen supports creating these limits based on circulation modifiers, copy locations, or circ limit groups, which allow you to create limits based on MARC data. The below instructions will allow you to create limits based on circulation modifiers.

Configure the circulation limit sets by selecting Admin > Local Administration > Circulation Limit Sets.
Items Out - the maximum number of items circulated to a patron at the same time.
Depth - Enter the Min Depth, or the minimum depth, in the org tree that Evergreen will consider as valid circulation libraries for counting items out. The min depth is based on org unit type depths. For example, if you want the items in all of the circulating libraries in your consortium to be eligible for restriction by this limit set when it is applied to a circulation policy, then enter a zero (0) in this field.
Global - Check the box adjacent to Global Flag if you want all of the org units in your consortium to be restricted by this limit set when it is applied to a circulation policy. Otherwise, Evergreen will only apply the limit to the direct ancestors and descendants of the owning library.
Linked Limit Groups - add any circulation modifiers, copy locations, or circ limit groups that should be part of this limit set.

Example Your library (BR1) allows patrons to check out up to 5 videos at one time. This checkout limit should apply when your library’s videos are checked out at any library in the consortium. Items with DVD, BLURAY, and VHS circ modifiers should be included in this maximum checkout count.

To create this limit set, you would add 5 to the Items Out field, 0 to the Depth field and select the Global Flag. Add the DVD, BLURAY and VHS circ modifiers to the limit set.

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