[ILL-L] OVERDUE BOOKS

[Campbell, Heather]

Your questions were:
1.  How and how often are you sending overdue notices?======We use
ILLiad.  E-mails for overdues go out once a week.  Lending and Borrowing
overdues go out at the same intervals: Overdue a week+- Notice 1
Overdue two weeks+- Notice 2.  Since borrowed books are checked out on
our Circ system, the circ system sends out a reminder to return the book
and overdues. The intervals on these are much longer. 
2.  How many overdue notices do you send before you invoice?============
It depends upon when they were due. It's very probable that multiple
notices are sent out in this category.In both categories:
3.  Are you invoicing them for the item and when do you do it? Our
system declares a book lost when the overdue fee caps at $25. ILL
overdues are $.50  a day, so the book is declared lost by the system at
Day 50 and a report is issued by circulation. I am supposed to have an
invoice is issued by our acquisitions librarian then. I try hard not to
let it get to this stage. ========== 1 month.  In Borrowing, though, the
customer is not only blocked but a $100/item charge is put on their
library card account with the understanding that the replacement costs
we receive from the lender may be much higher. The third notice/invoice
is also sent by mail or in our courier bags.  
4.  Once you've invoiced them, how long do you wait before you send a
second and a third invoice?========== Overdues go out once a week as do
invoices. Overdue notices and invoices are batched together by ILLiad
and sent out. 
5.  Are they responding to your invoices, but then not paying or not
returning the books?  =========== For the books we lend:We sometimes get
a claims returned type of response. Then mysteriously the book appears
in the mail.  So I guess they DID return it - just not according to the
conditions of the loan.  Some are more upfront and apologize for the
delay; we appreciate the honesty.  Some use the invoice as a tool to get
the book back from their customer. And- as I wrote this morning- some
responses are not constructive.  For the books we borrow: Usually, the
charges added to (and thus blocking the use of) the library card get
their attention.  Sometimes- not.  Luckily- that's a handful of the
cases.
6.  If there is no response to any of these invoices, what are the
consequences -- a letter of complaint, a notification of loss of ILL
loan privileges, what? 
In Borrowing, our customers lose library priviledges until such a time
as they reimburse us for the costs of the items.  And they are referred
to the library's collection agency.
In Lending- it's tricky.  Some of the delinquent libraries are part of
consortiums.  To block one would be to block all of the libraries in the
consortium.  I put the word BARRED next to the names of the delinquent
libraries in ILLiad address book so the Lending clerk knows to cancel
the request - so the referral agency knows then too. If there were a way
to block  individual libraries using the same OCLC symbol, I'd welcome
it.


Heather Campbell
Special Services ~ Interlibrary Loan and Books By Mail
Jacksonville Public Library (OCLC:JPL)                    303 North
Laura Street
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
heatherc at coj.net  904-630-7017  VM:904-630-2985


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