Circulation

Alternate Patron Hold Pickup

This feature adds a bit of convenience to a common task: checking out an item on hold to another patron (typically a family member or helper).

When you checkout the item, you will get a pop-up window with warnings associated with this item. The "ITEM_ON_HOLDS_SHELF" message is now expanded to

  • Let you know the name of the person who had placed the hold.
  • Give you the option (in the form of a checkbox) of cancelling the hold placed by the above-named patron. (Checked = Cancel the hold; Unchecked = Leave the hold in place)

The initial value of the checkbox is derived from the circ.clear_hold_on_checkout organizational setting.

If the operator has CANCEL_HOLD privilege, then if the checkbox is checked and the checkout is allowed to proceed, the hold will be cancelled with a note that the item was checked out to another patron.

This feature is available in the browser-based staff client.

New Patron Billing Statement

The Evergreen web staff client now includes a patron billing statement, which summarizes a patron’s bills, credits and payments in a familiar layout. This can be found on the "Statement" tab of the Patron Bill Details page. (From the Patron Bills page, double-click a row to view its details, or choose "Full Details" from the Actions menu.)

Enhanced Billing Timestamp Support

Previously, billings had to make do with a single timestamp attempting to fill two different roles. In the case of an overdue fine, the timestamp represented the end of the fine period for that billing, while for all other fines, the timestamp was merely the time the bill was created. This setup generally worked, but not without confusion, and limited our ability to understand and process the data.

Billings will now have up to three timestamps: a create date, and when applicable, a fine period start and a fine period end. This clarifies and simplifies things like backdating, retrospective fine generation, account balancing for negative balance avoidance, and billing timeline views.

Copy Alerts and Suppression Matrix

The Copy Alerts feature allows library staff to add customized alert messages to copies. The copy alerts will appear when a specific event takes place, such as when the copy is checked in, checked out, or renewed. Alerts can be temporary or persistent: temporary alerts will be disabled after the initial alert and acknowledgement from staff, while persistent alerts will display each time the alert event takes place. Copy Alerts can be configured to display at the circulating or owning library only or, alternatively, when the library at which the alert event takes place is not the circulating or owning library. Copy Alerts can also be configured to provide options for the next copy status that should be applied to an item. Library administrators will have the ability to create and customize Copy Alert Types and to suppress copy alerts at specific org units.

Copy alerts can be added via the volume/creator and the check in, check out, and renew pages. Copy alerts can also be managed at the item status page.

Copy alert types can be managed via the Copy Alert Types page in Local Administration, and suppression of them can be administered via the Copy Alert Suppression page under Local Administration.

Place Multiple Holds At Once

Users with the appropriate permissions now have the ability to place multiple title/metarecords holds at once. This feature is especially beneficial for book clubs and reading groups, which need to place holds on multiple copies of a title.

In order to use the feature:

  • Set the Maximum number of duplicate holds allowed Library Setting (circ.holds.max_duplicate_holds) to a number higher than 1
  • Log in as a user with the CREATE_DUPLICATE_HOLDS

When placing a title or metarecord hold, a Number of copies field will display for these users. This field is not available when placing part, volume or copy holds.

This feature does not change the way in which the system fills holds. The multiple holds will fill in the same way that they would if the user had placed multiple holds separately.

New Notice Columns in Items Out Grid

The grid in the patron "items out" page in the Evergreen web staff client has two new columns indicating the number of notifications generated for a given loan and the date of the most recent notification. These columns will allow circulation staff to better respond to patron questions about whether they were sent notification about an overdue item.

The columns are based on the number of completed Action Trigger events on the loan that have a checkout.due hook. In other words, they would include overdue and courtesy notices.

A new library setting, "Exclude Courtesy Notices from Patrons Itemsout Notices Count", if set will cause the notice count and date fields to exclude courtesy notices.

Patron Email Addresses Now Clickable In Web Staff Client

Adds a mailto link to the patron’s email in their profile so it can be clicked to send and email to the patron. No new settings or permissions are included in this feature.

Pickup Library for Staff-placed Holds

Adds a new library setting, circ.staff_placed_holds_fallback_to_ws_ou, that helps determine the hold pickup library in cases where patrons don’t have a preferred hold pickup library in their account and a staff member is placing the hold on their behalf.

  • When this setting is true and the patron doesn’t have a preferred library listed, the hold pickup library will default to the workstation’s organizational unit.
  • When this setting is false and the patron doesn’t have a preferred library listed, the hold pickup library will default to the patron’s home library.