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Lost Item

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Payments

Patron Pays for the Lost Item
  • The library receiving the patron’s payment will enter the patron’s record and mark the charge paid.
  • This library will then mail a check and a Lost Item Payment Form to the owning library.
  • Once payment is received at the owning library, it is their responsibility to either repurchase or delete the item from the database.

 The item will remain in the patron’s claimed window until the item has been deleted.

 

Library Pays for the Lost Item
  • The patron’s home library will enter the patron’s account, and in the "Add Charge" screen, select "Item Lost" as the fee reason, enter the charge amount for the total price being charged for the lost item (replacement fee and processing fee if any) and the barcode of the item.
  • In the notes screen, enter a detailed note that the library paid, but the patron still owes the home library.
  • Waive the original charge(s) for the item from the patron record.
  • Mail a check to the owning library along with a "Lost Item Payment" form.
 
Items Lost In Transit
  • Search your shelves for these items and if found, check them in.
  • If not found, you may contact the other libraries involved to have them check their shelves.
  • If still not found, a general request can be sent out to the Exchange Listserv for other libraries to check their shelves.
  • The owning library can contact the IHLS Delivery Department or SHARE Director for assistance.
  • If all other resolutions have failed, a bill may be sent to the requesting library as stated in the ILLINET Interlibrary Loan Code. 
 

Reports

Overdues and Bills

Run Overdues and Bills on a set schedule. Check with SHARE staff to see which overdue intervals you have established in Polaris. Coordinate your staff to run overdue and bill notices at least once per interval. Be sure to run overdue notices first and bill notices second. Once a bill is generated, no other notices are generated for that item. 

Located: Utilities/Reports and Notices/Notices/Overdues

 

“Items Lost and Returned but Still Charged to Patron”

Located: Utilities/Reports and Notices/Tools

Items on this report were once lost and billed to the patron, but payment was never received. These items were then returned, but the replacement charge was not cleared from the patron account. 

If you wish to waive the replacement cost since the items have been returned, then look up the patron record and waive the fine. If you want to keep the charge on the patron record, do nothing.

 

“Lost and Paid Items”

Located: Utilities/Reports and Notices/Tools

Items on this report have been paid for by the patron.

Delete all item records that are on this list. You may wish to double-check that the item was paid for at your library. If the item was paid for at another branch, check your records to ensure that the transacting library properly forwarded the payment to you. If they have not, you may contact them to recover your replacement cost. To check this, bring up the item record and click on "Links" and "Last Borrower." On the patron status window, go to the "Accounts" tab and click on the "Transaction Summary" button. Find the item transaction and right-click to choose "Properties" to see the library that created the payment transaction.

 

“Lost Items”

Located: Utilities/Reports and Notices/Tools

Items on this report have a status of lost and the patron has been charged for the item. 

Be sure to delete all items included on the “Lost and Paid Items” report before processing this report.

Check your shelves for all items. If found, check the item in. Check the patron record to be sure the item charge was removed from their record. If the charge is still there, waive the charge.

Check the patron barcode and check out branch of each item. If the item was lost by another library’s patron, you may send a final replacement bill to that library within the 18 month timeframe. If the Check Out Branch is blank, the item was most likely migrated into Polaris from your old system. Lost items should be deleted from the database, though the charge will remain on the patron’s account. Lost items will be listed in the Claim section of patron records until the item has been deleted.

 

“Long Overdue”

Located: Utilities/Reports and Notices/Circulation

This report will catch any overdue items that have not generated a bill for whatever reason. If your overdue setup is correct, you should only be seeing your items that have been checked out by other library’s patrons.

You can manually make these items lost so that the patron is charged for the item. You may also send a final bill to the borrowing library. Please contact SHARE if it appears that a library is not running their bills.

 

Database Maintenance

To maintain the cleanliness and consistency of the SHARE database, member libraries are responsible for purging lost item records on a regular basis. Items not cleared after several years are often the last item on a bibliographic record and can cause frustration when searching. Any items in lost status after three years will be deleted by SHARE staff. SHARE will send a report of items scheduled for deletion for the member library to review and resolve. If the lost items are still in lost status 90 days after notification, SHARE staff will purge the item records.

Adopted 05/11/2015

Revised 08/08/2024

 

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