Claims Returned Procedure

All, I had a couple questions about issues with the Claims Return wizard that I want to bring to everyone’s attention. The proper way to mark an item as Claimed Return is to use the wizard in the special circulation functions. Put in the User ID or look them up by name. You will then see a list of the items they have checked out in the lower window. To set an item to Claims Returned click on the gadget in the Claims Returned column. By default there (never) will be in that column since the item has never been claimed. Clicking on the gadget brings up a calendar where you can set the date of the claim. Again by default it will be the day that you do it. If the item is overdue (and most of them will be) you should not use the current date. Instead you should set the date of the claim the same as the original due date. Why? If you use the current date the system will calculate an estimated fine based on the original due date and assess it to the user’s account. The problem this causes is this fine will sit there until the item is checked in and a bill is generated. So your patron could be blocked if their fine was over $5, but there will be no way to pay that amount because the system won’t generate a bill until the item is checked in. Now if you are gung-ho on getting your fine for the overdue what you must do is renew the item. The fine will be assessed and a bill will appear on the patron’s account. Then mark the item as Claimed Return. I leave it to you how you’ll explain that to the patron.