FAQs: Tracking User Status by Library Group

In previous versions of SirsiDynix Symphony, each library user always had a single status (OK, DELINQUENT, BLOCKED or BARRED) that applied to circulation activity throughout the system. Now, Tracking User Status by Library Group allows library consortia to track the user’s overdues, fines, and recalled holds separately for each library group within a consortium and assign a separate status for each group, so that a user may be BLOCKED in one group but only DELINQUENT or even OK in another group.

Tracking User Status by Library Group does not support assigning a user different blocking thresholds for different library groups. The user still has one user profile for the entire system.

By default, SirsiDynix Symphony systems are delivered with this feature turned off. Contact SirsiDynix Customer Support to have the Tracking User Status by Library Group feature configured for your system. If configured, each user will have a separate delinquency status for each library group defined in the Bill Maintenance Libraries attribute of the Library policies. If this feature is not configured, each user has only a single delinquency status for the whole system (which is the default configuration).

Which library groups are consulted when creating bills, discharging overdue items, or modifying due dates and claims returned dates?

When user status is by library group, the creation of a bill will modify the user’s status and estimated fines for the bill maintenance group of the billing library. The discharging of an overdue charge will modify the user’s status for the bill maintenance group of the charge library. The modification of the date due or date claims returned of a charged item will modify the user’s status for the bill maintenance group of the charge library.

When wizards validate a user’s status or update a user’s status, which library groups are consulted?

Wizards that validate the user’s status (such as Checkout, Renew User Charges, Place Hold, Search Interest, and Create Booking) will validate using the user’s status for the billing maintenance group of the workstation library.

Upon completion of a wizard task, the user status returned from the server and updated in WorkFlows is the user’s status for the billing maintenance group of the workstation library. The following wizards are affected.

When the Modify User wizard is used to modify the user’s status manually, the status displayed and modified will be the status for the billing maintenance group of the workstation library.

When accessing the User Display and Remove User wizards, the user’s status displayed will be the status for the billing maintenance group of the workstation library.

For example, in a library consortium, the MAIN branch billing maintenance group is the NORTHSIDE library group. The MADISON branch’s billing maintenance group is the SOUTHSIDE library group. Suppose a patron comes to the circulation desk at the MAIN library with an overdue MADISON book to return and two MAIN books to check out. This patron’s user profile sets a blocking threshold value of 2 for overdue charges. Assume that the patron currently has only the one charge (the MADISON book he is about to return), no unpaid bills, and no recalled holds. So, right now, his status is OK in all library groups.

After the Update User Delinquency Status report is run, the user’s status will become DELINQUENT for the SOUTHSIDE group. When the MADISON book is discharged, no alert will appear, because the user status returned to the workstation from the server will be for the workstation’s billing maintenance group, which is NORTHSIDE. Since the user’s status in the NORTHSIDE group is still OK, OK is the status returned from the server. When the user’s ID is scanned to charge the two MAIN books, no delinquent alert will appear. The user’s status for checking out books, placing holds, etc. is validated for the library group of the workstation where the user is doing the activity.

Now, suppose the loan period on the two MAIN books is seven days, and the patron returns to the MAIN branch again two weeks later, forgetting all about the two MAIN books still in the trunk of his car, and tries to check out a CD. When his user ID is scanned, the workstation will display a status of BLOCKED and require an override to perform the new charge. Because of the two MAIN overdues, the user’s status is now BLOCKED in the NORTHSIDE group and still DELINQUENT in the SOUTHSIDE group.

It is not possible to work with more than one status at a time for a given user. The only status which a given workstation can display or modify is the status for the workstation library’s billing maintenance group.

A patron can potentially use this configuration to get around the library’s limit policies, since overdues, fines, and recalls are tracked separately for each library group.

For example, if the user profile sets a blocking threshold of $5.00 in unpaid bills, and there are three separate library groups set up for billing, a user with that profile can theoretically accumulate up to $14.97 in unpaid bills without becoming BLOCKED in any library group as long as she accumulates no more than $4.99 in any one group.

Your SirsiDynix Symphony administrator may need to re-evaluate circulation thresholds to prevent this situation, particularly if an existing library is switching to this configuration or user status had not been previously managed by library groups.

When exporting user records, the user status from which library groups are used?

When user status is by library group, the status exported by SirsiDynix Symphony will be the user’s status for the bill maintenance group of the library where the user is registered.

When user status is by library group, reports that offer a selection by user status will use the bill maintenance group of the login library which scheduled the report. Selection by user status includes the Delinquency Status and Estimated Fines attributes.

Will the Update User Delinquency Status report process overdue charges differently?

The Update User Delinquency report’s processing of an overdue charge will modify the user’s status for the bill maintenance group of the charge library. The report’s processing of a recalled hold will modify the user’s status for the bill maintenance group of the library which placed the hold.

Under the default configuration, the delinquency reports will continue to produce a single user status file named delinq in the /Unicorn/Standalone directory on the server. The delinq file will be downloaded automatically to the \Sirsi\Jwf\Configure directory on the client when the WorkFlows client connects to the SirsiDynix Symphony server.

Under the Track User Status by Library Group configuration, the delinquency reports will produce a status file named delinq.N for each library group, where N is the library group policy name. The delinq.N file is placed in the /Unicorn/Standalone directory on the server. When the WorkFlows client connects to the SirsiDynix Symphony server, the client will automatically select the correct delinq.N file to download to the \Sirsi\Jwf\Configure directory on the client based on the library group the login user ID belongs to, so that the users’ statuses for the billing maintenance group of that particular library are current for offline transactions on that workstation.