Sunday, February 10, 2019

Overdues by Due Date Range

A new feature in LibraryWorld allows you to run overdue reports by a range of due dates.  Sometimes you just want to run overdue notices for patrons that have  seriously overdue items.  Now you can do a patron advanced range search to find patrons with items overdue between two dates.  Then you just run any of the patron overdue reports, choosing the patron find set option.  

Here are the step by step instructions.

Go to the Patron module and select the Advanced button.   Enter two dates in the Range search fields, say 2018-09-01 to 2018-12-31, and do the search.   You'll be shown all patrons with items with due dates between those two dates.  You may be able to just stop there and browse the find set; calling or talking directly to each patron.  Or, you can use one of the many reports.  

To use a report, go to the Reports page and select one of the reports dealing with items checked out or overdue; like notices, letters or even email.   Choose a report and then make sure you select the option to use the patron find set.  This will create a report with only those items that are out and due between the two dates you searched on.

There are occasions where items may have been  placed back on the shelf without being checked in.    These be will get discovered during an inventory, but that might not happen often.  So you can run a report to see if the seriously late overdue items may be on the shelf.  To do so, click on the Advanced button in the Catalog module.  Use the Range search to search on Due Date between two dates. The resulting find set will display catalog records with items due between those dates.  Now go to the Reports module and select the holdings report by call number.   This will display by call number the items overdue between the two dates you searched.  You can print this report and check the shelves for the items.

Range searching by due date can be a very handy method for focusing your time on  seriously overdue items.