Options for expired patrons
This document will outline what it means when a patron account is expired and what options there are for how expired patrons are treated on the system.
What is patron expiry?
When a patron is created on the system, their account is automatically assigned an expiry date in the future, when certain features for the patron will deactivate. The functionalities an expired patron can use on the site can be limited based on the needs of the library. When a patron account expires the account is not deleted from the system, instead the account will remain on the system until it is manually deleted or expired patrons are deleted in batch. It is not possible to set a patron account to never expire, but it is possible to renew a patron account that has expired. For details on how to reset the expiry date on a patron account, please check our Help Centre.
How is the expiration date set on a patron account?
The patron expiry date is set automatically when the patron account is created based on the enrollment period defined in patron category the patron is assigned to. For more information on the patron category, including details of enrollment dates, please check our Help Centre.
How to tell if a patron is expired
It is possible to report on expired patrons. For more details on creating a report like this, please contact Interleaf Technology directly.
On the individual patron accounts, there will be a several messages indicating the patron account has expired.
On the Details page of the patron account, there will be two messages indicating the patron account has expired
On the Check out tab, it will not be possible to checkout to the patron and there will be a message explaining this is due to the patron account being expired.
What can an expired patron do?
The functions available to an expired patron can be set by various system preferences, outlined below. To find and set any of the system preferences discussed below, go to Koha administration > Global System Preferences and search for the name of the system preference seen in the title of the various sections below. Essentially, any combination of the following system preferences can be enabled.
ReturnBeforeExpiry
Setting this system preference to Require patrons to return items before their accounts expire will cause all items checked out the patron to be provided a due date before the expiry date on the patron account.
BlockExpiredPatronOpacActions
Setting this system preference to Block expired patrons from the OPAC actions, such as placing a hold or renewing prevents patrons from completing actions which require a login on the OPAC. Patrons will still be able to login on the OPAC, but the options for renewing and placing holds will not be available.
If an expired patron logs in on the OPAC, a message about the account being expired will display on the account summary page.
There is a note on this system preference, that the settings on the system preference itself can be over-ridden by the settings on the patron category the patron is assigned to. For more details on this feature, please check our Help Centre.
LockExpiredDelay
This system preference can be used with the cleanup_database cron to prevent expired patrons from logging in on the OPAC or staff side after their accounts have been expired for a set amount of days.
To check if the cleanup_database cron is running, please contact Interleaf Technology directly.
To enable this system preference, put the number of days a patron account can be expired before it is locked into the blank box. For example, if a patron account should be locked 30 days after the expiry date, the system preference would be set to Lock expired patrons after 30 days.
BorrowerRenewalPeriodBase
This system preference can be used to determine how long the new active period on a patron account will be when a patron account is renewed.
the latter of the current date and expiry date
This option will choose the later date between the date the patron account is being renewed on and the date the patron has expired, or is due to expire. The new active period for the patron account will be calculated based the subscription period on the patron category being added to the later of these two dates.
current membership expiry date
This option will calculate the new active period for the patron account by adding the subscription period on the patron category to the date the patron account expired on.
current date
This option will calculate the new active period for the patron account by adding the subscription period on the patron category to the date the patron account is being renewed on.
MembershipExpiryDaysNotice
This system preference allows the site to send out a notice to a patron in advance of their account expiring. To enable this system preference, insert the number of days in advance of their account expiring a patron should receive the notice. For example, if a patron should receive the notice 10 days before their account expires, the system preference should be set as Send an account expiration notice when a patron's cars will expire in 10 days.
This system preference requires the cron membership_expiry.pl. To confirm if this is running on your site or to confirm the content of the notice, please contact Interleaf Technology directly.
NotifyBorrowerDeparture
This system preference can be set to display a notice on the patron account on the staff side, noting that the account will expire soon. To enable this feature, input the number of days before a patron account will expire that the message should appear. For example, if the message should appear 30 days before the patron account expires, the system preference should read Show a notice if the patron is about to expire or has expired 30 days beforehand.
| 1.3 | 23/12/21 | Details added | Holly Cooper |
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