Circulation Rule Wizard
Circulation characteristics are defined through circulation rules. A Circulation Rule policy pulls together all the various elements pertinent to a circulation transaction. These rules are combined with User Profile and Item Type policies in the Circulation Map policy to cover all possible circulation transactions. The elements of a circulation rule follow.
| • | Whether the item can circulate |
| • | Loan period name (established in the Loan Period definitions) |
| • | Alternate loan period name (also from the Loan Period definitions) |
| • | Billing structure (established in the Billing Structure definitions) |
| • | Number of renewals allowed |
| • | How loan periods are extended after a renewal |
| • | Overdue grace period (number of fine-less days, hours, or minutes allowed after the due date) |
| • | Recall loan period (number of fine-less days, hours, or minutes allowed after the item is recalled) |
From the List Policies window, you can create, display, modify, copy, or remove the Circulation Rule policies. Click Close to exit the wizard.
Attributes
The Circulation Rule wizard contains the following attributes.
| • | Name |
| • | Description |
| • | Loan Period |
| • | Billing Structure |
| • | Renew Limit |
| • | Unseen Renew Limit |
| • | Renew From |
| • | Only Allow Unseen Renewals Within This Number of Days Before Due Date |
| • | Chargeable |
| • | Maximum Charges |
| • | Maximum Charges Applies to All Checkouts Using This Circulation Rule |
| • | Grace Periods Are In |
| • | Grace Periods |
| • | Recall Grace Period |
| • | Overridable |
| • | Recall Loan Period |
| • | Alternate Loan Period |
| • | Save Charge History |
This attribute uniquely identifies a specific Circulation Rule policy. This name is ten characters or less, and may not include spaces or punctuation, except for dash (-), underscore (_), and dollar sign ($). Additionally, the pipe character (|) may not be used.
This attribute provides more information about the policy and its use by the library. The description may be up to 60 characters in length. Although the Description attribute may contain spaces and punctuation, the pipe character (|) cannot be used.
Each Loan Period entered as part of a Circulation Rule is a name defined in the Loan Period policy. Each named Loan Period is simply a formula by which SirsiDynix Symphony can calculate the due date when an item is charged. Select a Loan Period policy from the list. Use the Loan Period Policy helper (Loan Period Wizard) to create new loan periods or modify existing loan periods, if needed.
Each Billing attribute entered as part of a Circulation Rule is a name defined in the Billing Structure policy. Each named Billing Structure is simply a formula by which SirsiDynix Symphony can calculate a bill based on the per/day, hour, weekly, or monthly overdue, hold, privilege, and recall fees for an item. Select a Billing Structure policy from the list. Use the Billing Structure Policy helper (Billing Structure Wizard) to create new billing structures or modify existing structures, if needed.
The Renew Limit attribute controls the total number of times a user (with a particular User Profile) may renew an item of a particular Item Type. Type a limit or use the Minimum/Maximum gadget to select a limit.
The Unseen Renew Limit attribute controls how many times a user (with a particular User Profile) may consecutively renew an item of a particular Item Type without presenting the item at the library for renewal (that is, renewing an item by telephone, with the e-Library, or with a Selfcheck workstation). This attribute is used with the Renew Limit attribute. Type a number between 0 and 25,000, or use the Minimum/Maximum gadget to select a limit.
Note: Since the Renew Limit value is the total number of times the item can be renewed, the Unseen Renew Limit value should always be less than or equal to the Renew Limit value.
When an item is renewed as an unseen renewal, and the next renewal is a seen renewal, the unseen renewal counter is reset to 0. The unseen renewal counter is used to determine if the number of consecutive unseen renewals has reached the Unseen Renewal Limit value.
For example, the library allows users to renew items up to six times, but limits users to no more than two consecutive renewals by telephone or by the e-Library. The library sets the Renew Limit to 6 and the Unseen Renew Limit to 2. With this configuration, users can renew items two times consecutively with the e-Library, then they must renew the items at the library counter for the third renewal. The users may then renew the items another two consecutive times by the e-Library, and then renew the item one final time at the library counter, for a total of six renewals.
Note: If your library prefers not to differentiate between Seen and Unseen renewals, set the maximum for the Unseen Renew Limit to the same number as the Renew Limit. Both Seen and Unseen renewals will contribute equally to the maximum number of total renewals and can be performed in any order.
The Renew From attribute specifies how loan periods are extended after a renewal. Choose one of the following options:
| • | Due date – Choose this option to extend an item's loan period by the period specified in the policy's Loan Period policy beginning from the original due date of the item. |
For example, if an item with a 14 day loan period was checked out on May 1 and was originally due on May 14 but was renewed on May 10, this option would cause the program to set the item's new due date to May 28, 14 days after the original due date.
| • | Date of renewal – Choose this option to extend an item's loan period by the period specified in the policy's Loan Period policy beginning from the date of the renewal. |
For example, if an item with a 14 day loan period was checked out on May 1 and was originally due on May 14 but was renewed on May 10, this option would cause the program to set the item's new due date to May 23, 14 days after the date of the renewal.
Note: SirsiDynix Symphony always calcuates renewals of overdue items from the renewal date, regardless of this setting.
Only Allow Unseen Renewals Within This Number of Days Before Due Date
The Only Allow Unseen Renewals Within This Number of Days Before Due Date attribute specifies the number of days before an item's due date the user who checked out the item is allowed to renew it unseen. This option allows other users the opportunity to place holds on the item before the first user is able to renew the item. This attribute may be particularly useful for items that are high in demand.
If the user attempts to renew the item outside of the specified number of days before the item's due date via SirsiDynix e-Library, SirsiDynix e-Library does not perform the renewal and returns an error to the user indicating the date and time when renewal will be possible.
For this attribute, the number of days before an item is due is calculated in 24 hour increments back from the item's due date with the due date included. For example, if an item is due on a Monday and the circulation rule is configured to only allow renewals within three days of the due date, the item may be renewed anytime Monday, the previous Sunday, and the previous Saturday. Therefore, if your library sends pre-overdue notices to patrons three days before an item is due, excluding the due date (in this example, on Friday for items due Monday), you should set this attribute to four days, which will allow patrons to renew items on the day they receive the pre-overdue notice (Friday).
This attribute is only available when the Renew From attribute is set to renew from due date. This attribute does not affect seen renewals.
The Chargeable attribute in the Circulation Rule definition states whether this Circulation Rule allows a user to check out an item.
The Maximum Charges attribute specifies the maximum number of items (with this particular Circulation Rule applied) that a user can have charged at one time. The number selected is between 0 and 25,000. Type a number or use the Maximum/Minimum gadget to select a number.
This attribute can be used to set up branch borrowing limits for consortia or multilibrary systems. For more information, see “How do I set branch borrowing limits” in FAQs: Working with Circulation Rule Policies.
To set up Item Type limitations, see “How do I set item type limitations for circulation?” in FAQs: Working with Circulation Rule Policies.
Maximum Charges Applies to All Checkouts Using This Circulation Rule
The Maximum Charges Applies to All Checkouts Using this Circulation Rule attribute applies the value in the Maximum Charges attribute to all the item types together that use this Circulation Rule policy instead of limiting the number of checkouts for each item type separately. For example, you may have a circulation rule MEDIA that accounts for VHS, DVD, and BLURAY item types with a Maximum Charges value of three; the default behavior is for SirsiDynix Symphony to allow three checkouts each of VHS, DVD, and BLURAY items. However, if the Maximum Charges Applies to All Checkouts Using this Circulation Rule attribute is enabled, then patrons checking out VHS, DVD, or BLURAY items are limited to three checkouts in total between all three of these item types.
For more information on how this attribute affects Circulation Map policies, see FAQs: Working with Circulation Rule Policies.
This grace period type attribute defines whether grace periods (periods in which no overdue or recall fines are charged) are measured in days, hours, or minutes.
The Overdue Grace Period is a number between 0–24,999 that defines the number of minutes, hours, or days (depending on the grace period type) in which a user may return an overdue item without incurring a fine. If the user returns the item after the grace period is over, the full overdue fine is charged. Type a number or use the Minimum/Maximum gadget to select a number.
For example, an item is due on June 1. The Circulation Rule applied when the item was charged specified an overdue grace period of three days and a daily overdue fine of ten cents. If the item is discharged on June 2-4, no overdue fine is applied. If the item is discharged on June 5, the overdue fine is calculated from the due date and is calculated as 40 cents.
The Recall Grace Period attribute includes a number between 0–24,999 that defines the number of minutes, hours, or days (depending on the grace period type) in which a user may return a recalled item without incurring a fine. Recall fines start accruing after the recall grace period expires. This allows time for the recall notice to reach the user, without penalty to the user.
The Overridable attribute specifies whether a block on a charge can be overridden so a user can check out the item. Select Overridable only for Circulation Rule policies in which the Chargeable attribute is not selected.
The Recall Loan Period attribute is also a name defined in the Loan Period policy. The Recall Loan Period defines the amount of time that must have elapsed since the item was charged before a recall notice can be generated for a standard recall. Select a Loan Period policy from the list.
For example, an item was charged on June 1 and a standard recall was created on June 6. The Recall Loan Period specified in the Circulation Rule for the charge transaction on June 1 was one week. When the Recall Notice on Charged Items report runs, no recall notice is generated until the user has had the item for one week, at which point the standard recall is changed to a rush recall and the notice is generated.
If the number of holds on an item being charged exceeds the Hold Threshold on its Item Type, the Alternate Loan Period is used instead of the Loan Period attribute to calculate the due date. Like the Loan Period attribute, the Alternate Loan Period is also a valid Loan Period policy, typically of shorter duration than the usual loan period, so that high-demand items may be circulated for a shorter length of time.
When creating a reserve, you have the option of automatically or manually applying an alternate loan period within a specified number of minutes before closing. For instance, if a reserve book is checked out 15 minutes before closing, but has a loan period of 2 hours, SirsiDynix Symphony can apply an alternate loan period so that it is due first thing in the morning. Select a Loan Period policy from the list.
Select this check box to save the charge history for items circulated using this circulation rule. Clear this check box if you do not want the charge history to be saved. By default, this check box is cleared.
Note: This attribute does not appear unless your system is configured to use the Charge History feature. Contact SirsiDynix Customer Support to configure this feature.
To implement the Charge History feature, you will need to add the Circulation Rule policies (with the Save Charge History attribute selected) to your circulation maps, affecting those items/users for which you want to track charge histories.
If you want to determine whether or not charge history is saved on an individual user basis, use the Charge History Rule setting in the user record’s Basic Info tab. The Charge History Rule setting overrides the setting of the Save Charge History attribute in the circulation rule.
Related topics
Circulation Configuration Wizards
Delivered Circulation Rule Policies