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5.4. Penalties and Grouped Accounts

Last Updated 08/28/2025

Manually Blocking Grouped Accountss

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Libraries may choose to manully block accounts when linked accounts have been blocked. Patrons may not view fines owed by group members, but staff may. If a library policy states that parent accounts should be blocked when linked juvenile accounts have been blocked, staff may follow instructions for creating an alerting block to block the parent account.

Evergreen does not have an automated mechanism for initiating a block on group accounts based on the bloacked status of a single member of the group. Any group or family limits set by a library system would have to be enforced “manually” by staff. Evergreen does permit staff-initiated manual blocks on patron accounts  if your local policy requires it.

Viewing Group Fines

Patrons may not view fines owed by other group members in the OPAC. However, staff can view group mmber fines from a single member's account in two places.

In the Patron Summary

On the left-hand side of the patron account, Group Fines are listed along with other circulation summary details.

In the Group Member Details Page

THe grid with patron information about each group member in the Group Member Details page (available from teh Other drop-down tab) includes a coumn for Balance Owed which shows total fines owed by each group member.

Manually Blocking Group Members

If your library enacts a policy of blocking parent accounts when juvenile accounts are blocked, you can do so manually.

1. From the blocked juvenile account, navigate to the Group Member Details page.
2. Select the line for the parent account by checking the box.
3. From the Action menu, select Retrieve Selected Patrons.
   
4. This will open a new tab with the parent account.
5. Navigate to the Notes tab.
6. Click the Create Note button.
7. Select Alerting Block from the Penalty Type drop-down in the resulting pop-up modal.
8. Set the depth to Everywhere.
9. Give the note a title. In the description, list the linked account that's blocked the reason for the block.
   
10. Add your initials.
11. Click OK.

Manually Un-Blocking Group Members

When a blocked account is cleared, any linked accounts that have been manually blocked will remain blocked. When you open an account and see an alert that the patron is blocked due to a block on a linked account, you should always check to see if the linked account has been cleared. If it has, you can manually remove the linked blocks.

1. From the main account, navigate to the Group Member Details page.
2. Select the line for the account listed as initiating the block in the alert by checking the box.
3. From the Action menu, select Retrieve Selected Patrons.
4. This will open the account with the originating block in a new tab. If the linked patron is still blocked, you will immediately be directed to the Alerts page where the block will be listed. If the block is clear, the name will no longer appear in red, and the bills tab will show an amount below your library's blocking threshold.
5. Return to the original patron. Navigate to the Notes tab.
6. Select the blocking alert.
7. Select Remove Note from the Actions menu.
   
8. The block will be cleared.