We have been providing this service since about August 2008, emailing out pre-overdue notices two days in advance of the due date of books, spoken word and music CDs. We do not currently send pre-overdues for DVD loans as they are much shorter loan periods but we could do so if we wished.
It is an opt-in but we actively encourage new users to provide an email address using the pre-overdue notice as the "carrot".
It is a very popular service and is certainly having an effect on the fines income although I'm not able to say by how much at the present time but I also can't see any way we could stop the service now.
One interesting thing that came out of a check of user details about 2 years ago was that only about 1/3 of our active users at that time appeared to have an email account. I suspect this has got slightly better since then, but the pre-overdues are, and will remain, e-mail only.
Graham
Graham Dash, MCLIP, Library Services Manager (Systems & Development)
Environment & Leisure Group, Leisure & Libraries
London Borough of Sutton, Central Library, St Nicholas Way, SUTTON, Surrey SM1 1EA .
Tel.: 020 8770 4763, Mobile: 07515137830, Fax: 020 8770 4777
Borough web site: www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=907
Library Catalogue web site: www.sutton-libraries.gov.uk
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sue Hyland
Sent: 21 December 2009 10:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Pre-overdues
Buckinghamshire is considering sending e-mail reminders to customers just in advance of the due date of their on-loan items. I would be very pleased to have some feedback from other authorities who are already doing this. In
particular:
Are you providing this service to all e-mail customers automatically, or are customers given the opportunity to opt-in?
What has the customer reaction been to the service?
Has there been any noticeable impact on fines income?
Thanking you in advance
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