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4.2. Claims Returned Items

Last Updated 07/23/2026

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Staff can mark items as "Claims Returned" to stop the accrual of fines. Items that are located and checked in will be automatically backdated based on the claims returned date provided when staff mark the item.

1. To mark an item Claims Returned, retrieve the patron record and go to the Items Out screen.
2. Select the item, then select Mark Claims Returned from the dropdown Actions menu.
3. Enter date in yyyy-mm-dd format.
4. Click Submit.
5. The Claimed Returned item now displays in the Other/Special Circulations section of the patron record.
6. The Claimed Returned item adds to the count of items that are Claimed Returned in the patron summary on the left (or top) of the screen. 

More on Claims Returned Items 

• The date entered for a Claims Returned item establishes the fine. If the date given has passed, bills will be adjusted accordingly.
• When a Claims Returned item is returned, if there is an outstanding bill associated with it, the item will not disappear from the Items Out screen. It will disappear when the outstanding bills are resolved.
• When an item is marked Claimed Returned, the value in Claims-returned Count field in the patron record is automatically increased. Staff can manually adjust this count by editing the patron record.
  
• Claims Returned is a fine stop reason in Evergreen AND an item status. The item status of the item that the patron claimed to return is set to Claimed Returned, which means it is no longer OPAC visible nor holdable. The item will remain on the patron account (not accruing fines or changing to Lost status) until the item is checked in. 

• The library setting that governs any given Claims Returned is the library setting at the library where the item circulated. 

Claims returned Policies and Best Practices

Currently, it is up to each library system to determine how they choose to handle their own claims returned items and patrons. In Evergreen, the item remains on the patron record until the item is checked in, either because it is found/returned by the patron, found/discarded by the library, or formally marked lost and subsequently paid for.

If the item is owned by a different system and was checked out to the patron via resource sharing, any action to discard the item should be left to the owning library. There is not currently a consortium-wide policy for handling resource-sharing items that have been marked as claimed returned in a patron record. Each resource-sharing situation would need to be handled on a case-by-case basis, with the system that checked out the item contacting the owning library system to see how they can amicably resolve the situation.

Note: If library policy requires claims returned items to show as checked-in, staff should manually change the status, as the Claims Returned flag does not properly close the open circulation transaction on the patron account. Checking in the item is the only correct way to close the open transaction for an item marked Claims Returned.