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Home → Administration Manual for Libraries → Library Settings → Financial Settings

4.2. Financial Settings

Last Updated 10/19/2023


Color Description
Optional setting.
Setting has Cardinal default value but systems can choose differently.
There is a Cardinal default value and there should be no other value chosen for this setting.
Label Description Recommendations / Comments Acceptable Values Counts in Cardinal as of January 2022 (value then count) NC Cardinal
Show billing tab first when bills are present If enabled and a patron has outstanding bills and the alert page is not required, show the billing tab by default, instead of the checkout tab, when a patron is loaded If you pull up the account and the patron owes money, the bills tab gets pulled up first to show staff that fines may be accruing or may exceed the library billing threshold True/False True (11)
False (4)		 TRUE
Disable Patron Credit Do not allow patrons to accrue credit or pay fines/fees with accrued credit Patron credit is available by default. All systems should have a value. If true, patrons will not be able to accrue credited balances. If false and patrons pay more than they owe, that credit can exist for future fines.  True (credit disabled)  /   False (credit allowed) True (32)
False (4)		 TRUE
Allow Credit Card Payments If enabled, patrons will be able to pay fines accrued at this location via credit card This is set if you have credit card payments enabled. Several ways to do this, your RFId vendor through self check, contract with external terminal at circ desk. Evergreen also offers option. Patron logs into account via OPAC and transaction is handeled there w/out staff involvement. Only certain vendors available. Local bank, credit card vendor, etc. For more information, please see Credit Card Payment Options in the Administrative Manual in the NC Cardinal knowledge base for more information. https://nccardinalsupport.org/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=337  True/False False (23)
True (6)		  
Payment History Age Limit The OPAC should not display payments by patrons that are older than any interval defined here. Determines how long a patron can see their previously paid bills in the My Account section of the OPAC interval of time: # of hours or days 1 year (6)
6 months (5)
3 months (3)
365 days (2)
12 months (2)		  
Cap Max Fine at Item Price This prevents the system from charging more than the item price in overdue fines The individual item price must be listed in the item record for this to apply. To consider: do you cap max fines at the item price? Item price will need to be set for materials if the default price is not to be used. Circulation policies have more granularity, but this setting can be used for maximum fines across the board. True/False False (14)
True (12)		 TRUE
Charge fines on overdue circulations when closed Normally, fines are not charged when a library is closed.  When set to True, fines will be charged during scheduled closings and normal weekly closed days. Most systems do not charge fines while library is closed, but you may wish to do so if, for instance, you are closed on Sunday but still want to charge fines on that day.  True/False True (2)
False (1)		 FALSE
Default Item Price   List a single, fixed dollar amount. If a price isn't specified by cataloger for the item, this will be the default amount for lost billing fee charges (if not set otherwise in the item record). All systems should have a value.  x dollars 25 (21)
20 (11)
15 (5)
50 (2)
5 (2)		  
Charge lost on zero   Some libraries do not want to bill patrons for lost items that were donated or for magazines, so they put a price of $0 in the item record. This library setting allows Evergreen to distinguish those items from items with a null/blank price field for which the default item price will be billed. If there is a price listed of "0.00" then this setting determines if the patron is billed default price or not. True = would be charged default price. False = patron not billed, since cost was $0.00 True/False True (11)
False (6)		 TRUE
Lost Materials Processing Fee   List a single, fixed dollar amount. If you charge a processing fee, you can set it here. This would be assigned when the item is marked lost. x dollars 2 (7)
0 (7)
5 (6)
3 (3)
10 (2)		  
Void overdue fines when items are marked lost   Default setting in Cardinal is True, so that when patron is billed for the entire cost of item, the fines are voided.  True/False True (37)
False (6)		 TRUE
Void lost item billing when claims returned Void lost item billing when claims returned If marked "claims returned" by library staff, then lost billing fines would be removed and no further fines accrued until item is found. Billing can be done later done manually.  True/False True (18) TRUE
Void lost item processing fee when claims returned Void lost item processing fee when claims returned Default setting of True, so that the processing fee will be waived when an item is "claims returned." True/False True (11) TRUE
Lost items usable on checkin Lost items are usable on checkin instead of going 'home' first Default setting of False, so that materials that were marked Lost have to be sent in transit back to their circulating library before they can be checked out again. If True, materials that were Lost and then checked in can be immediately checked out again. True/False True (41)
False (3)		 TRUE
Void lost item billing when returned Void lost item billing when returned Default setting of True, so that when an item is returned and bill has not been paid yet, the bill would be voided.  True/False True (44) TRUE
Void processing fee on lost item return Void processing fee when lost item returned Default setting of True, so that when a Lost item is found and returned, the Processing Fee is removed. If False, the processing fee will still be charged even when the Lost item is returned.  True/False True (27)
False (4)		 TRUE
Void lost max interval Items that have been lost this long will not result in voided billings when returned.  E.g. '6 months' This is a period of time. If a user loses a book and it is found and returned within this time period, the Lost book bill will be automatically removed from their account. After this time period, the Lost charge will remain on their account even if the lost book is found and checked in.
This setting allows catalogers to freely delete materials after this time period has passed, because they have to check in the material before they can delete it to close out the transaction and make sure it is no longer associated with the borrower. If a Cataloger checks in a Lost item to delete it within this time period, they may be unintentionally absolving the user of any Lost fees they owe. If staff are choosing to accept the returned item after this time period, they can still manually waive the Lost billing. 		 interval of time: # of hours or days 6 months (13)
12 months (6)
36 months (5)
999 months (3)
365 days (2)		  
Restore overdues on lost item return Restore overdue fines on lost item return When Lost charges are added on an account, overdue fines are removed. If you choose True for this setting, Evergreen will restore the overdue fines that were on the account before the material was marked Lost. If you choose False, the previous overdue fines will not be added back to the account when the item is found. True/False True (40)
False (4)		 TRUE
Lost Checkin Generates New Overdues Enabling this setting causes retroactive creation of not-yet-existing overdue fines on lost item checkin, up to the point of checkin time (or max fines is reached).  This is different than "restore overdue on lost", because it only creates new overdue fines.  Use both settings together to get the full complement of overdue fines for a lost item Do you want to charge the patron the max amount of fines they would have received if the item had not been marked Lost before the fine max was reached? If this setting is False and the patron later returns a Lost item after many months, Evergreen will only restore overdue fines that were billed during the initial overdue period (e.g. 30 days). If this setting is marked True and the patron later returns the Lost item, Evergreen will generate new overdues for period between the time the item was marked Lost and the date the item was returned, up to the Max Fine value. If you have a long fine period ($0.10 a day/max $15) and a short Mark Lost period (30 days), patrons would never have reached the potential max fine amount before the item was Marked Lost. True/False False (13)
True (6)		 FALSE
Do not change fines/fees on zero-balance LOST transaction When an item has been marked lost and all fines/fees have been completely paid on the transaction, do not void or reinstate any fines/fees EVEN IF circ.void_lost_on_checkin and/or circ.void_lost_proc_fee_on_checkin are enabled If a lost item is returned that has already been paid for, don't make any financial adjustments to the account. The Cardinal default is True to help avoid negative balances on patron accounts. If you offer a refund to a patron that lost a book and then found it later after paying all associated fines, you should choose False. Note: if an item was marked Lost and patron paid the fines already, then Evergreen will not void those fines to create a negative balance.  True/False True (22) TRUE
Mark item damaged voids overdues When an item is marked damaged, overdue fines on the most recent circulation are voided. If an item is marked damaged and you bill for damaged items, overdue fines will be voided when you mark the item Damaged and assess the damage fees. Similar to when you mark something Lost. True/False True (31)
False (10)		 TRUE
Charge item price when marked damaged Charge item price when marked damaged If staff mark something Damaged at check-in, Evergreen will give you the option to bill the last patron. Staff can specify a different amount if the item has already been checked in before marking it as Damaged. True/False True (37)
False (6)		 TRUE
Charge processing fee for damaged items Charge processing fee for damaged items List a single, fixed dollar amount if you charge a processing fee for permanently damaged items (that will be removed from the collection).  x dollars 0 (8)
2 (6)
5 (5)
3 (3)
10 (2)		  
Prohibit negative balance on bills (DEFAULT) Default setting to prevent negative balances (refunds) on circulation related bills. Set to "true" to prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with an interval setting, to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time. Use True in conjunction with the Negative Balance Interval setting (below) to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time. Set to False to allow negative balances for an unlimited period of time (i.e. you will give a refund for voided payments at any time).  True/False True (21)
False (1)		 TRUE
Negative Balance Interval (DEFAULT) Amount of time after which no negative balances (refunds) are allowed on circulation bills. The "Prohibit negative balance on bills" setting must also be set to "true". Select the period of time during which you will provide a refund to the patron, if you allow refunds for some period of time. Leave blank if you do not offer refunds and chose False for the Prohibit negative balance on bills (above).  interval of time: # of hours or days 12 months (2)
365 days (1)
6 months (1)		  
Prohibit negative balance on bills for lost materials Prohibit negative balance on bills for lost materials. Set to "true" to prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with an interval setting, to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time. True will prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with the interval setting (below) to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time. False will allow negative balances for an unlimited period of time (i.e. you will give a refund for the voided lost materials payment at any time, once the item is returned).  True/False True (17)
False (2)		  
Negative Balance Interval for Lost Amount of time after which no negative balances (refunds) are allowed on bills for lost/long overdue materials. The "Prohibit negative balance on bills for lost materials" setting must also be set to "true". If you allow refunds for some period of time, please provide the interval expressed in days or months. Leave blank if you do not offer refunds and selected False in the "Prohibit negative balance on bills for lost materials" setting (above).  interval of time: # of hours or days 6 months (3)
12 months (1)
30 days (1)
365 days (1)		 TRUE
Prohibit negative balance on bills for overdue materials Prevent negative balances (refunds) on bills for overdue materials. Set to "true" to prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with an interval setting, to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time. True will prohibit negative balances at all times or, when used in conjunction with an interval setting, to prohibit negative balances after a set period of time. Set to False to allow negative balances for an unlimited period of time (i.e. you will give a refund for voided overdue payments at any time).  True/False True (20) TRUE
Negative Balance Interval for Overdues Amount of time after which no negative balances (refunds) are allowed on bills for overdue materials. The "Prohibit negative balance on bills for overdue materials" setting must also be set to "true". Select the period of time during which you will provide a refund to the patron. All systems should have a value. If you allow refunds for some period of time, please provide the interval expressed in days or months. Leave blank if you do not offer refunds and selected False in the "Prohibit negative balance on bills for overdue materials" setting (above).  interval of time: # of hours or days 6 months (2)
365 days (1)		  
Use Lost and Paid copy status Use Lost and Paid copy status when lost or long overdue billing is paid   True/False True (8)
False (2)		 TRUE

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    Library Settings Template- Financial.pdf

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