Charging Fees for Hold Requests
Horizon allows you to charge borrowers a fee for hold requests. These can be requests made for specific items that are currently on loan to another borrower, or to request an item to be brought from a different branch than the borrower’s. For more information about configuring hold requests, see Setting Up Hold Requests .
You can set up the fee to be assessed when the request is placed, when the hold is filled (when the hold notice is created after the item is checked in), or both. Fees may be charged according to item type, borrower type, location, or a combination of these.
This allows you to charge a range of fees for items that have been requested by borrowers, while still allowing staff with appropriate passkey privileges to waive the fees as appropriate.
In order to use this feature, you must specify a default request charge. You can then create additional charges for specific item types, borrower types, and locations.
For fees to be assessed at the time of the request, those fees become payable at the point of placing the request. A block is added to the borrower’s record at that time. The borrower can pay the charge at that time or later. For fees assessed at the time the hold notice is created, a warning displays for borrowers at the time of the request.
To set up fees for hold requests
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Open the Horizon client and log in. |
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Go to Administration > Table Editor. |
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Open the circ_parameter mq_view. |
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For setting up a fee to accrue at the time the hold request is placed, open the Request placement fee (circ parameter 51). |
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Specify the appropriate settings for the parameter. The default value is 0, and indicates that the library does not charge a fee for placing a hold request. Specify a value greater than 0 to indicate the default fee in cents. For example, type 100 to specify a default hold request fee of $1.00. |
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Optionally, you can also specify Special Values based on Circulation Location, Borrower Location Group, Item Location Group, Borrower Type Group, and Item Type Group. To do this, click New to set up a new additional fee. Specify the Value in cents to add to the default fee. Then, specify the codes for one or more groups to charge the additional fee to. For example, to charge an additional $1.00 for multimedia requests made by minors, you would specify the code for the appropriate borrower type and item type. |
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Click Close when you are done configuring the parameter. |
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You must restart the Horizon Information Portal before any changes take effect in the Horizon client or Horizon Information Portal. The SIP or NCIP server must also be restarted for changes to takes effect. |
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For setting up a fee to be assessed when the hold is filled, open the Request filling processing fee (circ parameter 52). |
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Specify the appropriate settings for the parameter. The default value is 0, and indicates that the library does not charge a fee when the hold notice is generated. Specify a value greater than 0 to indicate the default fee in cents. For example, type “100” to specify a default fee of $1.00. |
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Optionally, you can also specify Special Values based on Circulation Location, Borrower Location Group, Item Location Group, Borrower Type Group, and Item Type Group. To do this, click New to set up a new additional fee. Specify the Value in cents to add to the default fee. Then, specify the codes for one or more groups to charge the additional fee to. For example, to charge an additional $1.00 for requests made from borrowers of your south branch, you would specify the code for the appropriate borrower location. |
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Click Close when you are done configuring the parameter. |
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