Check out an item to a visiting patron's account at their home institution. Direct Pick-up Resource Sharing
Instead of creating and managing a visiting patron's record, allow libraries to check items out onto their home institutions record. The patron could validate by choosing the institution and having the patron sign in to their account.
As a patron I could go to any library in my network and easily check out an item there by signing into my home library and checking out the items. Everything checked out would show up on my home library's record and I could return the item either at the lending library or my home library.
Troy Compton
shared this idea
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Troy Compton
commented
Hello Moshe,
Thank you for your comment.
I understand we can create a patron record that is managed by visiting library but is linked to the home library for updates to ensure the user is still active and isn't expired.
One of the reasons I added this Idea to the exchange was because of the fines and billing.
If one of our students had an item sent from another library and it was checked out, but not returned, the system would automatically bill them and transfer the bill to our cashiers office to be collected. The student would then have to pay or return the material before registering for classes or receiving a diploma or transcripts. In this instance, the majority of students return the items rather than pay the bill.
If our student went directly to another library and checked out an item through visiting patron, the lending library would have no recourse to ensure they return the item or pay the bill. They could utilize analytics to track items from visiting patrons that are billed and then contact the home institution for help, but that takes away the automation and work the system could be doing.
Instead of creating an additional record that is linked to the home library, I think it would be better if the item was just directly checked out to the home library.
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Hi,
The fulfillment network allows exactly this type of functionality. A user can walk into any library in the network and check out an item using her home library's patron ID. The process works by the system automatically creating a patron account at the lending library. The patron account is linked to to the patron account of the home library, so that updated to the patron account at the home library automatically happen also at the host library.
This process gives the lending library control over the lent items. The loan is registered at the owning library, which can control its terms of use, track the loan status, manage the courtesy and overdue notices etc.
Thanks,
Moshe
