When negotiating terms of the payment plan, it’s important to remember there is no one-size-fits-all payment plan. Local policy and the prevailing service culture will inform the agreement between the library and the patron. Be sure you consider the following:
- The frequency and amount of payments
- The duration of the payment plan
- Can the patron continue to borrow while the payments are regularly made? (i.e. Override user block.)
- Should Referral to Unique Management Services (UMS) be prevented or suspended while the payments are regularly made?
- Consequences for a patron who falls behind on payments or otherwise violates terms.
Notes and guidance
An unreturned item that has become LOST should be paid in full before a year passes following the original due date. At the 1-year point, the Custom Longoverdue Report will remove the LOST bill; erasing any payment history and replace it with a LONGOVRDUE bill using the price in the item record.
If it seems likely the patron will need longer than a year to pay off the LOST bill, consider discarding the item and replacing the LOST bill with a LOSTX bill.
No other bill reason has a timeline like this that would impact the payment record.
If your library uses Unique Management Services (UMS) for Material Recovery Service and the patron is over your library’s selection threshold you can prevent them being referred by adding NO_UNIQUE to the User Cat 9 (Library Defined) field. Removing this from the field will make them a candidate for referral again.
If the patron has already been referred to UMS, you can suspend additional contact in the Client Portal. You can resume contact if the patron falls behind or otherwise fails to adhere to the negotiated payment plan.
Methods for monitoring patron payments for regularity vary. One option is to set a recurring calendar event as a reminder to see if the patron is staying up-to-date on their payments as well as any negotiated terms or relevant updates.