Question(s) about long overdue settings

Polaris
1

My library recently decided they want to either change timing for long overdue items…or not use “long overdue” at all.

So, related to that, I had two questions.

  1. First…when it comes to long overdue items, does anyone know the difference between how the Patron services profile “Patron initiated circulation:blocking conditions” works vs. the Patron Service Parameter “Overdues: block for long overdue items”? I’m getting confused about what blocks what with long overdues.
  2. Also, if I change the “Overdue: number of days until long overdue” parameter, does that affect things out that are already long overdue?

Edit:
Someone from the IUG discord group was kind enough to answer part of my question…here’s the relevant information in case it helps anyone else.

The Patron Service Parameter “Overdues: block for long overdue items” blocks checkouts in Leap/the client, at self-checks, and in services that authenticate via SIP.

The Patron Services Profile “Patron initiated circulation:blocking conditions” blocks renewals in the PowerPAC, auto-renewal, and inbound telephony (if you use those services). Our site manager says the Patron initiated circulation setting also blocks API services like Cloud Library.

2 Likes
2

In looking at the stored procedure Circ_GetPatronBlocks I would say this appears to be called “in real time” for all long overdue items. I would expect that you would see changes immediately after making them.

You could test by:

  1. Performing a test CKO and resetting the due date to a time in the past, say 900 days ago
  2. Trying to CKO to the patron with another item, this should work
  3. Changing the long overdue settings in SA to be 899 days
  4. Loging off and back onto the system. Some settings are only pulled in at login time.
  5. Trying to CKO to the patron with another item, this should be blocked because of a long overdue
    • As a bonus you could tweak the setting in step #3 to be 901 days to see if it allows the CKO now. In looking at the code, in theory, you shouldn’t even have to log off.

PS For consortia looking into this setting there is an important bug resolved in 7.4.

Prior to 7.4, instead of following the Governing Library settings in SA, the settings for the patron’s registered library would always be followed.