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4.7. Marking Patrons Inactive

Last Updated 08/28/2025

How to Mark Patrons Inactive

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Patron accounts may be deactivated, which will remove them from standard searches and make it impossible for anyone to utilizet hat patron's card, but will retain the patron's data in the system. Instructions for deactivation are outlined blow.

If staff are notified that a patron is deceased, has moved away or no longer wants their library account for any reason, the account should be annotated appropriately and deactivated.

1. Place an alert on the card with the appropriate message, such as “PATRON DECEASED."
2. Include the date that the library was notified of the change.
3. If the card holder was reported deceased, include the name of the person making the report to staff and their relationship to the patron.
4. Mark the patron account inactive by unchecking the Active box.
5. Mark the account as expired by clicking the calendar icon next to the Privelege Expiration Date field, and clicking the button for Today.
6. Click Save at the top of the page.
7. The page will refresh and the account will be marked inactive.

After deactivating, NC Cardinal recommends adding the account to a User Bucket of patrons to be purged. Purging (permanent deletion) can be scheduled to happen at regular intervals (semi-annually, annually, or bi-annually). For details on this process, see Batch Deleting Users in the User Buckets chapter.

Note: Do not purge accounts without first deactivating them. The "Deleted" flag in the Evergreen database is a separate field from the "Active" flag, and some reports may mistakenly include data on patrons who have been deleted but not deactivated. Deactivation is not possible after deletion, so must be done first.