Home → Resource Sharing → Resource Sharing Policies and Best Practices → Holds Process and How Billing is Handled
Last Updated 09/23/2024
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.)
The following scenarios lay out a variety of check-out and return situations for overdue materials.
Scenario | Owning Library | Circulating Library | Check-In Library | Who Charges Fines | Who Sends Notices? |
BUNN Patron requests PACK item via resource sharing. Returns to BUNN. Item is OVERDUE. | PACK | BUNN | BUNN | BUNN | BUNN |
BUNN Patron checks out a PACK item while visiting the PACK library. Returns item to BUNN. Item is OVERDUE. | PACK | PACK | BUNN | PACK | BUNN |
BUNN Patron checks out FORSYTH CENTRAL item while visiting FORSYTH CENTRAL library. Returns item to BUNN. Item is OVERDUE. (Forsyth does not charge late fees.) |
FORSYTH |
FORSYTH CENTRAL |
BUNN | N/A | BUNN |
BUNN Patron checks out FORSYTH CENTRAL item via resource sharing. Returns item to FORSYTH CENTRAL while visiting that library. Item is OVERDUE. (Forsyth does not charge late fees.) | FORSYTH CENTRAL |
BUNN | FORSYTH CENTRAL |
BUNN | BUNN |