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1.2. Holds Process and How Billing is Handled

Last Updated 09/23/2024

Overview of Holds Process and How Billing is Handled

While a significant portion of Resource Sharing involves dealing with holds and various holds processes, the Circulation in Evergreen Knowledge Book already explains in detail the many aspects of holds management.  Instead of duplicating that information here, we instead recommend that you review the Holds Management section of the Circulation in Evergreen Knowledge Book here should you have any questions or require additional guidance and instructions.

Resource Sharing Vocabulary

Owning Library: The library where the item is shelved when not checked out. The owning library is generally the library who sends an item out for resource sharing.

Circulating Library: The library that checks the item out to the patron. This is called the "Pickup Library" in the hold request interface. It is the physical location where the patron goes to check out their item.

Check-in Library: The library where an item is returned. After the patron returns it, the item is scanned and the status changes from "Checked Out" to the appropriate status depending on the location.

Hold Process

The following scenario walks through the hold process with resource sharing for a specific scenario. In this scenario, a patron from the Enka branch of Buncombe is trying to place a hold.

1. The patron places a hold to be picked up at their branch, Enka.
2. Evergreen checks the available holdings at that branch first. It excludes items that are not holdable by status, copy or location.
3. If Evergreen does not find a copy at Enka, it checks other branches from within the Buncombe system, checking each branch.
4. If Evergreen does not find a holdable copy at any Buncombe branch, it moves up to the consortium level. 
5. From here, it "walks" down to each system and branch within each system. Proximity adjustments guide selection of libraries to check to reduce distance items travel. Age Hold Protection rules apply.
6. At this point, Opportunistic capture is in effect. If a copy of the item is scanned for checkin at any library in the consortium, it will be captured to fulfill the hold.

Note on Opportunistic Capture: This strategy incorporates the physical location of the checkin. This means that if an item originally sent via resource sharing is returned to the non-owning a branch, and there is an active hold request for that item with a pickup location of that branch, the item will stay at that branch to fulfill the hold without returning to the owning library.

Notes on Billing and Payments

Circulation Bills, such as overdue fees, are determined by the Circulating Library. If a patron is late returning an item, and the circulating library (the library from which they physically checked out the item) charges late fees, those fees will apply, regardless of the fee structure of the owning library.

Notices about bills follow the settings of the patron's home library. If a patron owes money for an item borrowed via resource sharing, they will be contacted on the schedule set by their home library, regardless of the policies of the item's owning library. Additionally, if a patron utilizes resource sharing at a library that is not their official home library, they will still receive notices based on the settings of their home library, even if that library was not involved in the transaction.

Lost Material (and Damage) Fees are determined by the owning library. This can have an impact on fees in a few distinct ways:

• When an item is marked lost: The length of time between an item's due date and when it's marked lost by the system is set by the owning library. If this period is 6 months at the circulating library and 3 months at the owning library, then item will revert to lost status after 3 months.
• Whether lost fees are voided upon return: If the circulating library voids fees upon the return of a lost item, but the owning library does not, those fees will remain on the patrons account. If both libraries void fees, but the max interval after which they no longer void them is different, the owning library's interval will take precedence. 
• Whether overdue fees are reinstated upon return: If the circulating library charges overdue fees, the patron will be charged those fees after the lost item is returned if the owning library has enacted this setting.

If a patron loses or damages an item, the circulating library should contact the owning library to determine the best way to have the fee paid. In many cases, a replacement copy is the best solution. (Refer to the list of libraries that accept replacement copies.)

Billing Scenarios

The following scenarios lay out a variety of check-out and return situations for overdue materials.