Librarian hack: schedule your overdue notices

Let’s say you have your Policies set to mark items as lost after they have been overdue for 28 days, and you want to have different overdue items notices sent automatically to patrons based on how close they are to the 28-day limit. 

To set up the first scheduled notice (this example is for items that are one week and under overdue, focused on overdue items and not charges):

Email Preferences need to be configured for email notice reports to work.

1. Go to the Operations > Reports > Circulation > Notices > Overdue Items Notice.
2. On the Selections tab, enter the 1 through 7 for Patrons with __ – __ days overdue.
3. Go to the Options tab, select your format, and enter the customized notice text for items under 1 week overdue.
4. Click Create Saved Report in the bottom right-hand corner.
5. Type a name for the report and click OK. (e.g. Overdue Items Notice – 1 week) *Naming the reports is important and will make troubleshooting easier when you can easily identify what each report is meant to do without having to select and look through each one.
6. The report will move to the Saved tab, with additional settings. Fill out the Overview, Schedule, Notification, and FTP tabs as necessary. 
   • Be sure to fill out the Schedule tab to determine the report frequency.
   • If you want notices emailed directly to students, choose the Email format on the Options tab.
   • If you use paper notices and want to be emailed a link to the downloadable PDF each week, check the Enable Email Notification checkbox on the Notification tab and add your email to the Email Notification and Download Link To field.
   • If you want a confirmation each time the report runs, check the Enable Email Notification checkbox on the Notification tab and add your email to the Email Notification To field.
7. Click Save.

Repeat the steps for however many notices you want, focusing on how many days the items are overdue and the specific notice text. For example, set up another notice for items 7–14 days overdue, and a third for items 15–27 days overdue, with varying levels of urgency!

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