FAQs: Marking Items as Lost

The Assumed Lost (LOST-ASSUM) Location policy, the Claims Lost (LOST-CLAIM) Location policy, and the Default Price policy must be created before the Mark Item Lost wizard can be used to mark an item as Lost. For new installations, these policies are delivered. For more information about defining or modifying these policies, see FAQs: Defining Missing and Lost Policies.

What happens to items that are already marked LOST when my library upgrades from a version prior to Unicorn 2003?

When a library upgrades from a version of SirsiDynix Symphony prior to Unicorn 2003, items that were previously marked as LOST will not be modified. These items will remain charged to the LOST user, and the current location will remain as LOST.

With the lost item processing, is there any reason to use the Process Long Overdue Items report?

The Process Long Overdue Items report is used for items that you do not expect to be returned, such as items that are more than 365 days overdue. However, SirsiDynix does not recommend that you use this report to process lost items that the library hopes to recover at a later date, for the following reasons.

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The Process Long Overdue Items report discharges the item from the user, and then charges the item to a LOST user. This action removes the charge link between the item and the patron who originally lost the item. In addition, the report removes the bill linked to the lost item, and can be set up to create a bill that is linked to the user. By removing the link to the item bill, the report enables the item to be removed from the library collection while maintaining a connection between the patron who lost the item and the amount owed for the lost item bill.

Since the charge link and item bill link are removed by this report, SirsiDynix recommends using this report only when your library is ready to replace or remove the selected long overdue items.

To retain the link between the user and the lost item, use the Mark Item Lost wizard instead of the Process Long Overdue Items report. The Mark Item Lost wizard does NOT charge items to a LOST user, but retains the link between the patron who lost the item and the lost item itself until the item is found.

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The Process Long Overdue Items report adds a note in the LOSTITEM entry of the user record’s Extended Information tab. This LOSTITEM note is the only connection between the user and the lost item.

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The Process Long Overdue Items report cannot be set up to generate lost item bill notices as the Assumed Lost report can. The Process Long Overdue Items report can only be set up to add a lost item bill to the patron record. If you want to send the user a bill notice, you must run a bill notice report (such as Generalized Bill Notices) to generate the bill notices to be sent to users.

What is the difference between Claims Lost and Assumed Lost?

Claims Lost means that a staff member manually marked an item as Lost with the Mark Item Lost wizard. Assumed Lost means that the Assumed Lost report automatically marked an item as Lost after a specified period of time after the due date elapsed.

How do I mark an item as Claims Lost if I do not have the user’s card to scan?

Use the User Search Helper to find the correct user record, and continue marking items as Lost.

How do I see what the recorded current location for the item is before I mark it as Lost?

You can view the current location for the item using the Item Search and Display wizard.

To see the current location for an item

Click the Item Search and Display wizard.

Search for the item you want. If a list of matching records displays in the hit list area, select the record you want to display. If the Viewer is turned on, the selected title will display in the lower portion of the window with two tabs, Description and Volume/Item.

Click the Call Number/Item tab.

Circulation information about the item, including current location, displays.

When an item is marked as Lost, does it remain charged to the user?

Yes. If you manually mark an item as Lost using the Mark Item Lost wizard, the item remains on the user’s charge list with a location of LOST-CLAIM. If you use the Assumed Lost report to automatically mark the item as Lost after a specified period of time, the item remains on the user’s charge list with a location of LOST-ASSUM. (For new installations, the LOST-CLAIM and LOST-ASSUM Location policies are delivered with SirsiDynix Symphony.)

The item remains charged to the user until the user pays the lost item bill, the staff member forgives or waives the lost item bill, or until the item is found and is returned to circulation. Although the item remains charged to the user, the charge is marked as an Inactive charge. Because the Checkouts tab in the user record displays only active charges by default, items marked as Claims Lost or Assumed Lost do not appear.

To see Inactive charges

Click the Display User wizard.

Click the Checkouts tab.

Under Display Options, select Inactive in the Types of Checkouts list. The lost items, which have not been paid for and are still charged to the user, display in the Checkouts tab.

Click Close to exit the wizard.

What happens if the item I mark as Lost has holds?

If the item you are marking as Lost has holds, the holds on the item are made unavailable. Later, you can remove the item hold or holds, and run the Notice for Cancelled Holds report to generate notices to be sent to the patrons whose holds you removed from the lost item.

What report can I use to automatically mark items as Lost?

The Assumed Lost report can be set up to run periodically and mark items as Assumed Lost after a certain number of days the item is overdue. The item remains charged to the user, and the item’s location is changed to LOST-ASSUM. Your library can configure policies to automatically add a bill to the user record for the cost of the item, or for the item type default replacement cost. A processing fee bill can also be added to the user’s record.

If your library policies are configured to allow automatic payment of bills from a patron credit account, the Assumed Lost report can be set up to pay the lost item bills and processing fees immediately with funds from the patron’s credit account. If the credit account balance is insufficient to pay the entire lost item bill or fees, the report creates the bill and adds it to the user’s record.

You can set up the Assumed Lost report to create a notice to be sent to the user stating the overdue item is assumed to be lost and the user is being billed to replace the item.

What happens when the user pays the bill for a Lost item?

The following occurs when the user pays the bill for the lost item, the Assumed Lost report is configured to automatically pay lost item bills with funds from the user’s credit account, or the staff member forgives or waives the lost item bill.

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The item charge is removed from the user record.

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The lost item bill is removed from the user record.

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The item retains its LOST-CLAIM or LOST-ASSUM location until the item is found and checked back into SirsiDynix Symphony, renewed, checked out, or put in transit.

What happens if the item is returned or found before the user pays the lost item bill?

The following occurs if the item is returned or found before the user pays the lost item bill.

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SirsiDynix Symphony displays a message that the item was reported lost or assumed to be lost when you check the item in, check it out to another user, renew the item, or put the item in transit.

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The item charge is removed from the user record.

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The item’s LOST-CLAIM or LOST-ASSUM location is cleared.

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The lost item bill is removed from the user record.

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If a lost item processing fee was assessed at the time the item was marked Claims Lost or Assumed Lost, and if the library’s policies are so configured, the fee is automatically removed from the user’s bill record as well.

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The overdue fine for the item is calculated and added to the user record.

What happens if the item is returned or found after the user pays the lost item bill?

If the item is returned or found after the user has paid the lost item bill, SirsiDynix Symphony alerts you that the item was reported lost or assumed to be lost. When you see this message, what happens next depends on whether the lost item bill was paid directly by the user, or automatically using a patron credit account.

If the lost item bill was paid directly by the user, you should check the user record to see if the user has already paid the lost item bill and fees. You can manually issue a refund to the user for the paid lost item bill according to your library’s procedures.

If the lost item bill was paid automatically using a patron credit account, the lost item bill can be refunded automatically or manually, according to your library’s procedures.

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If the policies and the Discharge/Checkin wizard are configured to automatically refund paid lost item bills, the lost item bill is automatically refunded when the item is checked in. A message displays and shows the amount of the refund. The refunded amount is added to the user’s credit account as a refund credit.

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If the policies and the Discharge/Checkin wizard are not configured to issue an automatic refund credit to a patron credit account for a lost item bill, use the Manual Refund helper in the Credit User Account wizard to manually issue refund credit for the lost item bill.

How do I set up automatic refunds for lost items that have been paid for and returned?

If the user has paid the lost item bill by the time the item returns to circulation, and if your library uses patron credit accounts, you can set up library policies to issue a refund automatically.

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Configure the Credit Rule policy. Go to Credit Rule Wizard for information.

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Configure the Credit Reason policy. Go to Credit Reason Wizard for information.

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Select the Automatic Refund check box in the Default Price policy. Go to Default Price Wizard for information.

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In the Discharge/Checkin wizard properties, specify the default Payment Type and Credit Reason under Automatic Refund Defaults on the Defaults tab.

When a lost item that has been paid for is checked in or renewed, and if the user has a credit account already set up with the Credit User Account wizard, a refund credit is automatically added to the patron’s credit account. If the user does not have a credit account, you will be asked if you want to create one for the user. If you create the user credit account, the refund credit is automatically added to the patron’s credit account.

How do I manually issue a refund for a lost item bill?

If the user has paid the lost item bill by the time the item returns to circulation, you can manually issue a refund. How you manually issue the refund depends whether or not your library uses patron credit accounts.

If your library uses patron credit accounts, use the Manual Refund helper in the Credit User Accounts wizard to refund the paid lost item bill. See the Manual Refund Helper and Credit User Account Wizard for information.

If your library does not use patron credit accounts, do one of the following to determine the user’s refund amount:

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Click the User Display wizard, search for the user record, and click the Bills tab. If Paid bills do not display, click Paid under Display Options. A list of bills the user has paid appears. Lost items that have not been paid and are still charged to the user display in the Checkouts tab.

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Run the List Bills report with settings of LOST for the Bill Reason, and Yes for List of Charge Information. You can make User Selections to narrow the focus of the report. Bill and item information appear in the report output so the amount of the user’s refund can be calculated.

You can use the Paid bill display option in the User Display wizard or the List Bills report to show paid bills for as long as paid bill information remains in the SirsiDynix Symphony system.

How should I set up the Remove Bills report and Remove Paid Bills report so I can keep Lost Item bill information for future refunds?

The Remove Bills report and the Remove Paid Bills report should be set up to exclude bills with reasons of LOST and PROCESSFEE to keep lost item information in the SirsiDynix Symphony system for you to refund lost item bills at a future date.

How do I mark an item as Lost if the item is charged to MISSING?

If you cannot locate an item charged to MISSING, you can mark the item as Lost.

To mark MISSING items as Lost

Click the Mark Item Lost wizard.

Use the Item Search helper to locate the item.

If a list displays, select one of the items in the list, and then click Mark Item Lost. The Billing for Lost Item/Processing Fee window appears.

Under Billing User, the MISSING user information appears.

Under For Lost Item, information for the missing item to be marked as Lost appears.

Depending on your library’s policies, the item price or the default price appears in the Lost Item box under Billing Info. Because you do not want to bill the MISSING user for the lost item, click Cancel Lost Item Bill.

Continue marking items as Lost, or click Close to exit the wizard.

How do I disable automatic billing for lost items?

The Mark Item Lost wizard can be configured to automatically bill users for lost items. If you do not want to use this feature, you can disable it.

To disable automatic billing for lost items

Point to the Mark Item Lost wizard’s toolbar button, right-click, and then select Properties on the shortcut menu.

The Set Properties window displays.

On the Behavior tab, clear the Automatically Bill for Lost Item check box, and click OK.

How do I mark a circulation set as Lost?

If the Circulation Sets feature is configured for your system, you can mark circulation sets lost using the Mark Item Lost wizard. When a set ID is scanned in the wizard, the wizard displays the list of items in set. In this list, you can select which items in the set are lost. The wizard will prompt to create a lost bill for each item and update each selected item’s current location to LOST_CLAIM.