Using the Assumed Lost Report for Item Maintenance

If you are interested in implementing MessageBee for emailed or SMS notices, please contact WYLD support at support@wyldnetwork.org. *MessageBee can be used for Assumed Lost, using the Bill Notice template in MessageBee.

Contact the WYLD Office if you have questions or if you don't feel comfortable creating, running, modifying, or scheduling this report.

Overview

The Assumed Lost Report is optional, but is a key part of item maintenance.  This report is used when the item is assumed to be lost, but the library expects to recover the item or receive payment from the user to replace the item.  This report is typically used as a 'final notice' to alert the patron that the item is considered lost.  Library policies can be configured so the report will automatically add one or more bills to the user record for the item cost, the item type default replacement cost, and/or the lost item processing fee. This report can also create lost item notices to be sent to the user. Some libraries prefer to send these notices through regular mail instead of relying on email or SMS.  All circulating libraries are encourged to run the assumed lost report on a regular basis. 

Details

When the Assumed lost report is run, items that match the overdue selection criteria remain charged to the patron and the item's current location is changed to LOST-ASSUM. 

The assumed lost item processing is the same as when a user claims to have lost material. The charge becomes inactive and the overdue charge is no longer accrued in the user's estimated fines. See the Mark Item Lost Wizard, Assumed Lost Report, and Long Overdue Report article for more information. This article describes what happens when a patron pays a lost item bill, what happens if the item is returned or found before the patron pays the lost item bill, and how library staff can issue a refund for a lost item bill.

Library policies can be configured so the report will automatically add one or more bills to the user record for the item cost, the item type default replacement cost, and/or the lost item processing fee. This report can also create lost item notices to be sent to the user. 

The report will automatically add a bill to the patron record for the cost of the item, updating the user's estimated fines. The replacement cost is either the price of the item, or it can be derived from the Default Price policy. The Default Price policy sets the default price for an item by item type and library.

Default Price Policies: You do not have to set up Default Price policies for this report to work. But you do need them if you want to charge a processing fee and/or if you want to charge a lost fee for your item records that do not have prices in them.

The Default Price policy lets you determine if a processing fee is added to the patron's account and if the processing fee is automatically removed with the lost bill when the lost item is returned to the library. This policy also lets you determine if the default replacement cost is always used instead of the price set in the item record. If the default replacement cost is not always used, the report will first check for a price in the item record, and, if one does not exist, will use the value set in the Default Price policy. To view your Default price policies, go to https://wyld.sirsi.net/map, select your library then "Your Library's Default Price Policies". Contact the WYLD Office if changes are needed in the library's default price policies.

Creating an Assumed Lost Report Template for a Final Notice 

Premise: We will assume you are replacing your final notice with this report.   

Select the Reports toolbar.

Select the Schedule New Reports wizard.

Click the Circulation tab, select "Assumed lost report" and click "Setup & Schedule".  

On the Basic tab, change the report name to something like "[YOUR LIBRARY CODE] Final Notice".

Click the Charge Selection tab.

1. Make sure the "Current location" is set to CHECKEDOUT.
2. Notice that there is no selection for library. This is selected automatically. The charge library is the same as the library of the WorkFlows login used during the session.
3. Because we are setting up this report to work like a Final notice or BFR notice, we will concentrate on the "Date due" field. The default is set to find all items due 45 days before the date the report is run.  
   • To change this date, click on the gadget next to the "Date due" field.  
   • The date range window comes up. The "Start date" will be set to "Since the beginning of the system." Keep this selection.
   • In the "End Date" section, change the "45". For example, if you enter "21", the report will find all items that are at least 21 days overdue and process them as described above.
   • Make other selections as needed.  

Click on the Item Selection tab.

1. With this tab, you can limit the materials marked LOST-ASSUM by item library. For example, you might want to limit the report to items owned by your library or your library system in order to avoid marking other libraries' materials as LOST-ASSUM. Click the gadget next the "Library" field to limit the report by item library.
2. Make other selections if necessary.  

Click on the User Selection tab.

1. This tab allows you to limit processing by User Profile and User Library.  

            As a reminder, if you do limit by User Profile or User Library, you will not send a notice to a                  patron who uses another library's card in your library.

Click on the User Status Selection tab if you want to limit library notices sent to your patrons by User Status (BARRED, BLOCKED, OK, DELINQUENT, COLLECTION, REVIEW).

Click on the Sorting tab to select your preferred sorting.

Click the Update Option tab.

1. You will probably want to run the report in test mode first to see what patrons/items it will find and what the format will look like. You can run the report in test mode by unselecting the "Update database records" check box.   When ready to run the report for real (edit the database), you will need to re-select the "Update database records" check box.

Click the Charge Notice tab.

    1. Optionally select:  

• If you do not want the library address to show on the notice
• If you do not want the salutation on the notice
• If you do want the user's barcode (User Id) on the notice
• If you do want the user's group Id on the notice2.
  

    2. Click the gadget next to the "Message 1" field, use the drop-down menu to locate your library's          final notice file. Most library notice files begin with the library's 2-4 digit library code followed by        a description of the notice (e.g. 13_final). Next, click "OK".

   3.  Under the "Title information to print with due date and time" and "Price and fine information to           print" sections decide how much information to include on the notice.

   4.  If you need to modify your notice, see the Modifying, scheduling, and retrieving Notice                Reports article for instructions.

Schedule your New Assumed Lost Report 

• Select the Schedule New Reports wizard.  
• Click the Templates tab.
• Select your template in the "Report Name" column.
• Click the "Setup & Schedule" button.
• Click the "Schedule" button.
• Select "Daily" if you want to run the report every day or every so many days. Select "Weekly" if you want to run the report one or more times a week. Select "Monthly" if you want to run the report one or more selected days a month.
  • If you selected "Daily", select the date you want the report to first run in the Calendar. Below the Calendar, select the time you would like the report to run the days it is scheduled. Libraries generally schedule notices between 6:00am and 9:00am.The "Interval Days" field determines how many days are to pass before the report runs again.
  • If you selected "Weekly", select the date you want the report to first run in the Calendar. Below the Calendar, select the time you would like the report to run the days it is scheduled. Libraries generally schedule notices between 6:00am and 9:00am.Select which days of the week you would like the report to run in the "Days of the week" field.
  • If you selected "Monthly", select the date you want the report to first run in the Calendar. Below the Calendar, select the time you would like the report to run the days it is scheduled. Libraries generally schedule notices between 6:00am and 9:00am.Select which days of the month you would like the report to run in under "Days of month".
• If you send e-mail notices to your patrons, check the "Auto email to recipients with email addresses in their patron record" box.
• In the "Reply to:" field enter a valid email address for your library, failure to do this causes any bounced or replied to messages to go to the WYLD staff.
• Click "Schedule" to schedule this report.