Skip to content

How can we improve Alma?

← Alma

Change due date when patron account expiration date reduced

As a Fulfillment Manager, I would like the due dates of a patron's books to be changed to their account Expiration Date if this is reduced. Eg, if a book is issued to a student for 10 weeks and they withdraw from their course, the original due date remains which can be some weeks after they have left. This can cause confusion for library staff and the patron.

332 votes
Vote

We're glad you're here

Please sign in to leave feedback
Signed in as (Sign out)
Close
Close
You have left! (?) (thinking…)
Liz Hartley (Lancaster University, UK) shared this idea  ·   ·  Admin →
Accepted  ·  AdminMoshe Shechter (Alma Senior Product Manager, Ex Libris) responded  · 

When a loan due date is shortened due to patron expiry, Alma will retain and internal  an indication for that on the loan record. This way when the patron expiry is updated (shortened OR extended) the loan due date will be recalculated using the loan date (i.e. as if the recalculation is happening at loan time). 


This way, the due date may be extended or shortened according to the new expiry date.

We're glad you're here

Please sign in to leave feedback
Signed in as (Sign out)
Close
Close
Submitting...
An error occurred while saving the comment
  • Maya Amichal commented  · 

    Hi Moshe,
    We have been waiting for this development for a long time.
    Can you please provide a timeline/update of when this will be implemented?

  • C Macarthur commented  · 

    Hi Moshe
    This had been accepted back in 2022 and has appeared in a number of NERS cycles in various forms and has now appeared again in the new enhancement aha cycle - https://enhancements.exlibrisusers.org/ideas/AENH-I-36405

    I do not think customers should have to keep submitting this as a request and voting on it if it has been accepted.

    Can you please provide a timeline/update of when this is to be implemented - and then provide an update on the list?

  • Alison Davis commented  · 

    In NERS, there is a private note that says "2023: This functionality is already available." Where is this configurable?

  • Cindy Bowen commented  · 

    Yes, is there any timeline on when this will be implemented? We've run into several patrons this semester where this functionality would have been very useful to have in place (the patron expiry was shortened, the loan due dates were not).

  • Etta Thornburg commented  · 

    Can we get a rough timeline on this enhancement?

  • Anonymous commented  · 

    I'm also very interested in when this will be rolled out as it seems like an oversight that should have been core functionality and causes us some issues. Our students only get expiry dates added when there is an event triggered (graduation, withdrawal, lapse etc) so their loan due dates can be after they are gone and makes chasing up overdue items very difficult.

    I would suggest a config setting to enable this as well as another one to set the due date to be x days before the expirty date if the expiry date is added/changed.

  • Jenny Mc commented  · 

    Pleased to see this is accepted. Do you have an idea of when this will be implemented?

  • Fiona Burton commented  · 

    This is an audit issue for us if we have books due beyond the patrons expiry date.

  • Lenore O'Connor commented  · 

    This is surely a must; it's beyond belief that due dates can remain when a patron expiry date is reduced.

  • C Macarthur commented  · 

    This appears on NERS and IDEAS exchange yearly and is something that would make a difference to the ability to recover stock as users leave with long loan items without library staff being aware

  • Jung Ah Lee commented  · 

    It seems absurd that Alma doesn't already do this. Can there be a daily job that runs to shorten the loan (and notify the users) based on the user expiration date?

  • summer commented  · 

    Yes, please!

  • Janelle Sander commented  · 

    This functionality would be extremely helpful and I'm disappointed this idea did not make it through the NERS enhancement process.

  • C Macarthur commented  · 

    This would be very useful as we have always had this issue throughout the year when students change dates or move courses or suspend studies. Very disappointed it did not make it through NERS as seems like Alma should be able to deal with this as part of the basic functionality.

  • Rachel Merrick commented  · 

    I just put a ticket in because we hadn't noticed the problem until all the bulk due date changes to do with COVID. It seems like something Alma should just do.

  • Nicola Carson commented  · 

    I have had a case open for months about this issue and have requested it stay open until something is done about it. As a stopgap measure I got our systems people to integrate this workflow into our patron load as we were unable to backdate loans within Alma. This means that a fulfillment process has been dealt with externally, which should not be necessary.

  • Clarice Hui commented  · 

    It’s very useful especially for solving our current difficulties to have students return their loans who graduated earlier but with loans due date after their graduation date or updated expiry date. The due date should be shortened automatically by Alma to match with the student's updated expiry date.

  • Digital Library Initiatives, UNSW Library commented  · 

    Could Ex Libris comment on this Idea? It's similar to NERS 6737, which was included in Round 2 of Alma NERS 2020 enhancement voting. Ex Libris sized the complexity of NERS 6737 as 25 points.

← Previous 1

Alma: Fulfillment - Loans

Categories

Feedback and Knowledge Base

(thinking…)