Hi Everyone,
I have spoken with our counter supervisor and apparently this has always happened on Millennium. If there is no checkin between the overdue loan and the new patron loan, then the fine is lost. Obviously, this is not easy to achieve with a staffed service but easy on self-service.
Best Regards,
Joan.
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for current and potential users of the Innopac system [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of PHILLIPS M.E.
Sent: 13 April 2011 10:44
To: Joan Millington; This list is for current and potential users of the Innopac system
Subject: Fines problem with self-service
It has just come to our attention that there is a loophole with respect to overdue books, fines and self-service. If user A has books overdue, then providing none of them have been recalled or have hold requests, the user can ask a friend, user B, to borrow the books on the self-service machine. The loan will come off A's record and a new loan will be created for user B. The fines that would have been sue are not accrued on A's record: they just vanish without trace.
I was in the process of reporting this to Innovative when I stumbled across this page:
http://csdirect.iii.com/documentation/sip2.shtml
which includes the following section under "Common problems and frequently asked questions":
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Blocking checkout of items that are already checked out
If a patron brings an item to a SIP2 selfcheck station and tries to check that item out, Innovative's SIP2 software will permit this checkout. If the item is overdue but not yet billed, the system waives any overdue fines that would be assessed for the patron to whom the item is currently checked out. This behavior is not configurable at this time. Please open a service request if you have additional questions.
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I opened a service request to ask when they were going to fix it. The response was that they did not know in which release it was going to be addressed (sounds like it's not on the roadmap) but we could put in an enhancement request. Alternatively, they could turn off the ability to issue books via self-service that were already checked out, but this would also prevent people renewing via the self-service machines.
The reason we became aware of the problem was that a student mentioned "the loophole" to a member of staff, and when asked what he meant revealed the whole thing! Of course we have no idea how widespread this knowledge is among the student body, and because Millennium's transaction logging is woefully inadequate we have no way of measuring the financial impact of the loophole. But more importantly, it's the issue of unfairness, that those "in the know" can routinely get away without paying fines. This is tempered, admittedly, by the fact that you cannot use this trick if a book is recalled or has hold requests.
I'd be interested to know from other Millennium sites whether you were already aware of this problem, and what decisions you've taken about it:
whether to deny renewal via self-service or to allow the loophole and hope no-one finds out.
Matthew
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Matthew Phillips
Electronic Systems Librarian, Durham University Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LY
+44 (0)191 334 2941
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