Setting Recall Rules

Occasionally a borrower has an urgent need for an item, but a different borrower already has the item checked out. You can recall that item before its original due date so that the new borrower can have the item sooner. You can also make sure that the first borrower can keep the item for a guaranteed length of time.

When you recall an item, you can set up Horizon to notify the person who currently has the item checked out that the item is now due sooner than its original due date.

For example, suppose a student checked out a projector on Monday, with a due date of Friday. A professor needs the projector on Thursday. The student has a guaranteed loan period of two days. If you recall the projector, Horizon notifies the student that he or she should bring the projector back on Wednesday so that the professor can check it out. The recall also changes the due date on the projector so that if the student does not return it on Wednesday, it becomes overdue.

Before you begin, make sure you have set up item statuses. (For instructions, see Working with Item Statuses.)

Horizon does these things when you recall an item:

Assigns a reason for the recall of the item. You set up the reasons that Horizon can assign. (For more information, see Setting Up or Editing a Recall Reason.)
Assigns a new due date for the item. Horizon checks to see if a new due date should be assigned to the item being recalled. Several factors combine to determine whether a date earlier than the original due date should be assigned:
Original due date for the item. If the item has been renewed, the original due date is the date calculated by the last renewal transaction, not the due date calculated when the item was first checked out.
Recall loan period. The recall loan period determines the number of days, hours, or minutes an item with the status of “Recall” can remain checked out after the recall is issued before Horizon considers it overdue. (For example, a book may normally have a loan period of fourteen days; however, when a book is recalled, its loan period may change to five days from the date the item is recalled.) In calculating the recall loan period, Horizon also considers any guaranteed loan period (see next bullet) for the item.

Authorized staff members can override default recall loan periods at the time an item is recalled. (For instructions, see “Recalling an Item to Fill a Request” in the “Hold Requests” chapter of the Circulation Guide.)

Guaranteed loan period. You can choose to guarantee a minimum amount of time that a borrower can have an item. If the recall loan period calculates a due date that comes before the guaranteed loan period has passed, Horizon adjusts the due date to the next open day after the guaranteed loan period. (For example, if an item checked out on March 1 has a guaranteed loan period of seven days and the recall loan period calculates a new due date of March 5, then the actual recall due date would be the end of the guaranteed loan period, or March 8.)

If the recall loan period calculates a due date that comes after the guaranteed loan period, then the new due date is the new recall due date. (For example, if an item checked out on March 1 has a guaranteed loan period of seven days, and the recall loan period calculates a new due date of March 9, then the actual recall due date would be March 9.)

Assesses fines, if any, for recalled items. You can set a fine rate for overdue recalled items that is different from the normal fine rate for that type of item. When a recalled item is overdue, Horizon calculates the fine at the recalled fine rate for the entire period the item is overdue.

For example, a book may normally have a fine amount of $0.25 for each day it is overdue. If that book is recalled, you can set its fine amount to $2.00 for each day it is past due. If the book was three days overdue before the library issued the recall, Horizon charges $2.00 a day for those three days as well as for any further overdue days that accrue before the item is returned.

Generates recall notices. You specify the timing and number of recall notices.

This section explains these topics:

 


© 1998-2017 Sirsi Corporation