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In FOLIO, resource access includes essential circulation functions. These functions include:
The circulation of library materials is governed by a set of rules and policies. These rules and policies are defined by the library and implemented in the Circulation and the Courses areas of the FOLIO Settings app.
The Check in app allows you to process items at a service point, including items a patron returns to the library, items requested by a patron, or in process items. You can also use the Check in app to record in-house usage.
To configure any of the staff slips you encounter when checking in an item, like the Hold slip, see Staff slips for more information.
The permission listed below allows you to interact with the Check in app. You can assign permissions to users in the Users app. If this permission is not assigned to a user, then they will be unable to see the Check in app or any related information.
Once a patron returns an item, check it in to remove it from the patron’s account and charge any applicable fees/fines. An item checked in at its effective location is marked as available if no patron has requested it.
To check in an item, either scan the barcode of the item, or enter the barcode and click Enter. The item appears in the Scanned Items table and its status changes. Fees/fines owed are noted in the Time returned column, if applicable.
While checking in an item, you may encounter one of the following pop-ups:
There is no option to turn off pop-ups.
Once you check in an item, the following columns appear in the Scanned Items table:
If you have appropriate permissions, you can learn more information about the item or loan through the Actions column:
There are two scenarios in which an item may need to be routed to another service point:
When a patron requests an item, checking the item in at its requested pickup service point triggers the hold.
Delivery requests are not treated any differently from items being routed to the hold shelf. The delivery request is triggered once the item is checked in at any location. See Processing delivery requests for more information.
When checking in a delivery request, you have two options: check the item out to the patron or wait to process the request.
To check the item out to the patron:
To wait to process the request:
You may need to backdate a returned item if your library was closed on the date the patron returned the item and you do not want to have any fees/fines charged to the patron’s user record.
For example, if your library was closed because of an emergency, you can mark all items returned the day your library was closed with the previous day’s date so that fees/fines will not accrue on patrons’ user records.
A library can configure FOLIO to anonymize loans after they have been checked in. Anonymizing removes the link between the loan record and the user record of the patron who borrowed the item. Your library can configure anonymization options in Settings > Circulation > Loan anonymization.
If you select Anonymize closed loans immediately after loan closes, anonymization will occur after the check in session ends. The anonymization process is scheduled by your system administrator or hosting provider.
If you find an available item (not on loan) in the library away from its shelving location, you can check it in to mark the item as used. For example, you may want to use this feature for items in your reference collection or items on reserve if you’d like to track that the items were used even though they were not checked out.
In order to record in-house usage, the item must be checked in at a service point assigned to its effective location. Additionally, the item must be available and have no open requests.
To mark an item as used, either scan the barcode of the item, or enter the barcode and click Enter. A house icon appears in the In-house use column to indicate the statistic has been recorded.
If you forget to print a transit slip, you can print a transit slip after checking in an item. Transit slips are configured in the Settings app.
You can manually create a new fee/fine for an item after checking it in.
Once you are done checking in items, you can end your check in session manually. To end your session and clear the Scanned Items table, click End session. Once you end the session, any applicable notices are sent to patrons.
By default, the Check in session is configured to end automatically after a 3 minute period of inactivity. You can turn this setting off or edit the number of minutes of inactivity the session will end after in the Settings app.
The Check Out app allows you to check out items to patrons. To check out an item, first locate a patron in the system and then scan/enter an item to borrow.
The permissions listed below allow you to interact with the Check out app and determine what you can or cannot do within the app. You can assign permissions to users in the Users app. If none of these permissions are assigned to a user, then they will be unable to see the Check out app or any related information.
You can find the patron by either:
Locate the patron using a barcode:
Locate the patron using the Patron Look-up function:
If a patron has a note on their record that is checked to display in the Check out app, the note will appear as a pop-up window after the patron details are displayed.
Within the patron details area, note that you can access additional information related to the user. Clicking on any linked information opens the appropriate app and displays the associated information. For example, if the FOLIO user has the appropriate permissions, clicking the number beneath Open requests will open a list of the patron’s open requests in the Requests app.
Review the available information to determine if you can continue with check out. For example, fees or fines may be owed, and may need to be handled before proceeding.
Proxy borrowers are patrons who are checking out items on the behalf of another patron. For example, a graduate assistant may act as a proxy for a professor.
Note: A patron must first be assigned as a proxy for the borrower in their user record in the Users app.
Make sure you have looked up the user record prior to scanning items.
To select the item for check out, scan or enter the barcode of the item and click Enter. The item is displayed in the Scan Items area with the Due date and Time and the total number of items scanned is incremented.
If the item is going to be due sooner than expected, a flag icon will appear next to the item due date after checkout. This can happen if a service point is going to be closed when the item would normally be due, if there is a recall on the item, or if the patron’s account is set to expire sooner than the expected due date/time.
While checking an item out to a patron, you may encounter one of the following pop-ups:
To access more information about each item:
To change the due date:
Loan comments can be used to store ILL transaction numbers, record a reason why a due date was changed, or track how many times a claimed returned item was searched for. Patron info comments can be included as a token in patron notices (only the most recent comment is included in the token). You need to have the appropriate permissions to be able to add patron or staff info loan comments – see Users > Permissions.
To add a patron info loan comment:
To add a staff info loan comment:
Once you have completed checking out items for a patron, you can end the session manually. To end your session and clear the Scanned Items table, click End session. Once you end the session, any applicable notices are sent to patrons.
By default, the Check out session is configured to end automatically after a 3 minute period of inactivity. You can turn this setting off or edit the number of minutes of inactivity the session will end after in the Settings app.
The Circulation log app allows you to view and search for some circulation actions. Circulation actions are actions performed by the system or a user within the following Circulation apps: Check in, Check out, and Requests. Notices and fee/fine actions are also included.
You can assign permissions to users in the Users app. The permissions described below allow you to interact with the Circulation log app and determine what you can and cannot do within the app. If you don’t assign any of these permissions to a user, the user will be unable to see the Circulation log app or any related information. The following are all the Circulation log permissions:
You can generate a log based on any of the query parameters or filters you select.
Note: Panes are resizable throughout FOLIO and in the Circulation log. Resize the Search & filter pane to see more or less of the circulation log at once.
In the Search & filter pane, type or paste a User barcode into the box.
If you don’t know the user’s barcode, click Patron look-up to open the user search box and search for that user’s record.
In the Search & filter pane, type or paste an Item barcode into the box.
In the Search & filter pane, enter your search terms into the Description box.
In the Search & filter pane, under Date, enter a start date in the From box and an end date in the To box.
Click Apply. Your results appear in the Circulation log.
In the Search & filter pane, type or select the Service point from the box. You are able to apply more than one Service point to your search, if needed.
In the Search & filter pane, click Loan and select any applicable filters:
The Circulation log app records some user block functionality, but it is not available through filters. To find when manual user blocks were created or deleted, search the description field for “Block” and apply other search/filter options as needed.
In the Search & filter pane, click Notice and select any applicable filters:
In the Search & filter pane, click Fee/fine and select any applicable filters:
In the Search & filter pane, click Request and select any applicable filters:
Once you generate a circulation log, these columns appear:
Clicking the … in the Action column displays a menu that enables access to additional information. The menu options that appear differ depending upon the Object (Fee/fine, Loan, Manual block, Notice, or Request). For example, clicking … > Item details opens the Inventory app for more information. In some cases the … may not appear, e.g., when a loan has been anonymized.
If your search for circulation log records returns results, you can export those results to a CSV file.
A green success toast message informs you that you have generated the export file. Once generated, the file downloads automatically.
If you do not receive the download file, check that your browser did not block the pop-up window. If the pop-up was blocked, change your browser to allow pop-ups, and export your circulation log search results again. You may also be able to access your download through the Export Manager app if you have permission to view that app.
This section of the documentation contains links to external sites. Please be advised that these sites are not maintained by the FOLIO Documentation Group and may be aligned with a different FOLIO release.
The Courses app allows you to create and manage course reserves.
Note: To enable library patrons to discover the courses you create in the Courses app you need an external interface or discovery layer set up and capable of interacting with FOLIO.
You can assign permissions to users in the Users app. The permissions described below allow you to interact with the Courses app and determine what you can and cannot do within the app. If you don’t assign any of these permissions to a user, the user will be unable to see the Courses app or any related information.
The following are all the Courses permissions:
Keyboard shortcuts allow you to perform actions in this app using the keyboard. See Platform essentials > Keyboard shortcuts for more information.
Before you implement the Courses app, make sure you have completed the following:
If you are configuring the Courses app for the first time, you need first to set up the following features in the Settings app, if applicable:
Once you configure the above settings, you can:
You can choose to integrate the Courses app with these applications:
In addition, you can connect the Courses app to your learning management system using the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) protocol. There is a separate module to install for LTI support. For more information, see Course Reserves - LTI connectivity.
Each of these integrations has specific features to consider in regards to the migration of courses, sections, cross-listings, and separate courses and how they interact with FOLIO.
You can search for courses in the Search & filter pane. All courses are shown and selected by default. To search for courses, enter your search terms into the box. Select the All fields drop-down list to search through one of the following fields: Course name, Course code, Section, Instructor, Registrar ID, and External ID. All fields is the default search.
You can also search for courses by selecting any of the filters in the Search & filter pane: Department, Course type, Term, and Location. Additionally, you can apply the filters after you perform a search to limit your results.
You can choose which columns appear in your search results by clicking on the Actions menu. Under Show columns, check or uncheck columns to change what you see in the results pane.
You can search for items on reserve in the Search & filter pane. Click Reserves to start your search. All reserves are shown and selected by default. To search for reserves, enter your search terms into the box. Select the All fields drop-down list to search through one of the following fields: Title, Barcode, or Call Number. All fields is the default search.
You can also search for reserves by selecting any of the filters in the Search & filter pane: Processing status, Copyright status, Permanent location, Temporary location, and Term. Additionally, you can apply the filters after you perform a search to limit your results.
You can choose which columns appear in your search results by clicking on the Actions menu. Under Show columns, check or uncheck columns to change what you see in the results pane.
Use the Search & filter pane to find items on reserve for a specific course. Find the course you wish to view reserves for and click on it in the Courses list. Then scroll down to the Items section to see all the items on reserve for that course.
To create a course, you must have the Courses window open. Then:
To delete a course, you must first remove all items from the course.
Cross-listed courses share instructors, course listing information, and reserve items. Once a course is created, you can add cross-listed courses to it. When you cross-list a course, the information you have in the original course’s Course listing information section also applies to the cross-listed course.
You are able to delete a cross-listed course with items as long as one course remains.
The new duplicated course will appear, with “- Duplicate” added to the end of the course name. Click Actions > Edit to edit the course to update the name and other information.
Instructors can only be added once a course is created. The instructor does not need a user record in FOLIO, but adding an instructor with a user record facilitates reports.
Add an instructor that has a FOLIO user record:
Add an instructor that does not have a FOLIO user record:
Note: If an instructor has a FOLIO user record, you cannot edit that instructor’s information.
You can add and assign notes to courses. Assigning a note means you are reusing a previously created note. To be able to add or assign notes, you need the appropriate Notes permissions.
If the note is assigned to multiple courses, any edits will apply to the note for all of its assigned courses. If you want to make a note with edits that apply just to the open course, you would need to make a new note with the desired text.
You cannot unassign a note that is assigned to only one course - delete the note instead.
Note that when you put an item on reserve for a course, FOLIO copies information from Inventory into the reserve record in order to support searching within the Courses app.
This means that if any information about that reserve item changes in Inventory after it was put on Reserve, you may need to remove and re-add the item record to bring over the information into the Courses app.
Information that is copied to support searching includes:
A reserve item’s start date and end date are maintained in the Reserve app. FOLIO will update the item’s temporary location in inventory when you first add it on reserve, based on the location listed on the course record.
If you have the Fast add: Create permission, you can use Fast Add to create an item in the Courses app and put it on reserve. The Fast Add option prompts you to create an instance, holding, and item in one pane with fewer fields. When you create the item, the Courses app creates the instance, holding, and item in Inventory for you, and then adds the item to the course.
The Fast Add workflow is meant to support putting personal copies, scanned articles, or other items on reserve that are not part of the library’s general circulating collection.
Note that Fast Add is not usually appropriate for re-adding an item to a course since it will create duplication of records in Inventory. If you need to re-add an item, you should use the function to add an item by barcode.
Note: If you add an item to a course and later make a change to that item via the item record (in the Inventory app), the change will not be reflected in the reserve record. To update the course reserve record, you need to delete the item and then re-add the item to the course.
Editing a reserve item allows you to change or add information to the following fields:
Each reserve item contains a section to track copyright information. This allows libraries that need to track this information to keep it as part of the reserve for later reporting and payment purposes.
The most common use case for these fields is when an electronic item is put on reserve, but there is no built-in restriction on using it for other items. There are no automated workflows that use these fields. They are all optional.
Note: Removing an item from a course does not remove it from the Inventory app. If the item on reserve had a temporary location inherited from the course, removing the item from the course will remove the temporary location from the item in inventory. If the item had a temporary loan type inherited from the course, removing the item from the course will not remove the temporary loan type from the item in inventory.
The Requests app allows you to create and manage requests.
FOLIO supports two kinds of requests - item level, and title level.
Item level requests are the default type of request for FOLIO and are made on an individual item record.
Title level requests are made on the instance level. FOLIO chooses the item from the holdings on that instance to fill the request, whether the item is available immediately or becomes available when the item is returned.
Libraries can turn on title-level requests in Settings > Circulation > Title level requests.
Libraries that want to use title level requests should consider:
You can assign permissions to users in the Users app. The permissions described below allow you to interact with the Requests app and determine what you can and cannot do within the app. If you don’t assign any of these permissions to a user, the user will be unable to see the Requests app or any related information.
The following are all the Requests permissions:
Keyboard shortcuts allow you to perform actions in this app using the keyboard. See Platform essentials > Keyboard shortcuts for more information.
Requests are assigned one of three Request Types:
Note that FOLIO allows items in some statuses to be recalled even if they are not on loan to a patron, but there is currently no difference in FOLIO workflows between a recall and a page when that occurs. If a loan is recalled, the original loan period may be shortened.
After a request has been created, requests are set in progress by checking the item in with the Check in app.
Open requests have one of the following statuses:
Closed requests have one of the following statuses:
To search for requests, enter your search terms into the box on the Search & filter pane. You can keyword search by title, or “starts with” search by item barcode, requester barcode, or item call number.
You can also use the Request type, Request status, Request level, Tags, and Pickup service point filters to find requests or further limit your search.
You can choose which columns appear in your search results by clicking on the Actions menu. Under Show columns, you can check or uncheck columns to change what you see in the results pane.
After you perform a search for requests, you can save your results to a comma-separated values (CSV) file. The fields visible in the Requests results list appear in the CSV file, along with additional request and item information.
Library staff create requests in the Requests app. They also can start the request process from a user record in Users, or an item record in Inventory; those apps will route you into the Requests app to create the request. Note: You must have permission to create requests in the Requests app in order to see the option to create a request from Inventory. You can request items lacking a barcode by starting in the Inventory app – see Inventory > Creating a new request.
Requesting is controlled by circulation rules and item statuses. You cannot request some item statuses and some only allow holds and recalls. See Platform Essentials > Item Status for more information.
You can only edit open requests. Once a request is closed, it cannot be edited.
You can duplicate open requests but you will need to change either the requester or the item in order to save the request, as there cannot be two requests on the same item by the same requester. Closed requests can be duplicated, but you will need to enter a requester barcode.
In the Request Detail pane, select Actions > Duplicate. A New request window appears with the same Item information, Requester information, and Request information as the request you chose to duplicate.
Edit any of the request information before submitting the request.
Select a Pickup service point.
Click Save & close. The new request appears in the Request Detail pane.
You can move a request from one item to another on the same instance. You may want to do this if a request item goes missing or if you need to balance request queues.
Note: If a recall request is moved to a loan item that wasn’t previously recalled, the loan will be recalled–the patron gets a recall notice, if configured, and the loan’s due date may be truncated or extended, depending on the associated loan policy.
You can change a patron’s location in the request queue for an item by reordering the queue.
You can only cancel open requests. Once a request is closed, it cannot be cancelled.
Note: When cancelling a request, you should consider the following:
Although library staff create requests in the Requests app, they can initiate the request process from a user record in Users, or an item record in Inventory. Those apps will route the user to the Requests app to create the request.
Note: You must have permission to create requests in the Requests app in order to see the option to create a request from Inventory. If you do not have the Settings > Circulation option Fail to create title level hold when request is blocked by circulation rule selected, then an item record is not required to create the request, but it is required to fill the request.
FOLIO first checks for an available item on the instance. If an item is available, FOLIO then looks at the circulation rules to decide what to do next.
If an item is available, and the FOLIO circulation rule allows paging, then the title-level request becomes a page for the item.
If several items are available, FOLIO will first choose an item that has the effective location at the chosen pickup service point. If there is no available item at an effective location associated with the pickup service point, FOLIO will attempt to choose one from another location associated with that service point.
If there is no matching item at an effective location with a primary service point that corresponds to the requester’s pick-up service point, then FOLIO looks for items in the next closest location.
If the instance has no available items when the request is created, the request will become either a Hold or a Recall, depending on the choice made in the requests app.
If the request is a hold, it will remain in the request queue for the title, but it will not be associated with an item until the request is first in the queue and an item is returned.
If the request is a recall, the recall will apply to the loan with the earliest due date. When the item is returned, it goes to the first open request, regardless of whether that request is the recall that triggered the item’s return.
When you view a title level request, the request view displays Title information in the top accordion, including the number of open title level requests on that instance.
Once a title level request becomes a page or a recall, the Item information accordion will also display, including the number of the open requests on the item.
For recalls, the item information indicates the item that was recalled, but when that item is returned, it will fill the first request in the queue, even if it was not associated with that particular request.
You can only edit open requests. Once a request is closed, it cannot be edited.
You can duplicate any open title level request. When you duplicate the request, you will need to change the instance or the requester, because a patron cannot have more than one open title level request on the same instance.
In the Request Detail pane, select Actions > Duplicate. A New request window appears with the same Item information, Requester information, and Request information as the request you chose to duplicate.
Edit any of the request information before submitting the request.
Select a Pickup service point.
Click Save & close. The new request appears in the Request Detail pane.
To view a request queue from the instance record in Inventory, select Actions > View requests & reorder.
To view a request queue from the request record, search for the request in the Requests app, and then select Actions > Reorder queue.
Fulfillment in progress shows requests that are in progress and have an assigned item. These requests include:
Open - Not yet filled shows hold and recall requests that are not yet being processed. These requests can be reordered using drag-and-drop. These requests all have a status of Open - Not yet filled.
In this section, the Item barcode column may contain item information, or it may be blank.
You can only cancel open requests.
Before you cancel a request, consider:
The hold shelf clearance report contains Awaiting pickup items where the item did not get checked out to the requester before the hold shelf expiration period expired. Check in these items to clear them from the hold shelf.
Hold shelf clearance reports are specific to individual service points. Therefore, you must be signed in to the service point you want to generate the report for.
The Hold shelf expiration period for a service point is set in Settings > Tenants > Service points.
Awaiting pickup items whose requests were cancelled are also included in the hold shelf clearance report.
To export a hold shelf clearance report, in the Requests pane, select Actions > Export hold shelf clearance report for [your service point].
The hold shelf clearance report includes requests that simultaneously meet all the following conditions:
The third condition covers the case where an Awaiting pickup item has the hold shelf expiration period expired, but there is another request for the item. The item will appear on the hold shelf clearance report, but if the item is then checked in at its pickup service point for the second request, then the first two conditions are satisfied (with regards to the first request) but the item will not be on the report.
Page requests are requests for items currently available at the library. In order to fulfill the request, you need to find the item in your library and check it in using the Check in app. This begins the request process in FOLIO. Depending on your library’s workflow, you can identify the page requests that need to be collected using one of two reports: CSV export or pick slips.
The CSV export report can be used as a pick report. A pick report shows all paged items that need to be pulled from the shelves. The CSV export report includes, and can be sorted by, effective call number.
To create a pick report, follow these steps:
The pick slips report generates a single slip for every paged item that needs to be pulled from the shelf. Because this report automatically prints only those items whose Effective location is associated with the currently selected service point, you must be signed in to the service point you want to generate the slips for. If no items match the report’s criteria, the option is grayed out.
You can configure the information that appears on the pick slips in the Settings app.
To print pick slips, in the Requests pane, select Actions > Print pick slips for [your service point]. A print dialog appears.
Libraries can choose to use search slips if they have many copies of a title (instance), but not all copies have been cataloged. When a patron requests an item from that instance, a search slip can be printed so a staff member can look for the item. Libraries must enable Allow print hold requests (Open - Not yet filled) in Settings > Circulation > Print hold requests in order to use this feature.
The search slips report generates a single slip for every item level hold request with request status Open - Not yet filled. The report only prints hold requests for items that are shelved nearest the currently selected service point (i.e., those items whose Effective location is associated with the currently selected service point). You must be signed in to the service point you want to generate the search slips for. If no items match the report’s criteria, the option is grayed out.
You can configure the information that appears on the pick slips in the Settings app.
To print search slips, in the Requests pane, select Actions > Print search slips for [your service point]. A print dialog appears.
You can add a tag to any open request. Tags are included in the CSV export report, in case you want to use them for your workflow. For example, you can tag requests that were not found.
Some libraries store items at a remote, off-campus storage facility. These facilities often have their own inventory system in addition to FOLIO to manage high-capacity storage and facilitate requests of items to be brought back to campus. FOLIO supports connections to two types of remote storage systems: CAIASoft and Dematic.
If your library integrates FOLIO with a remote storage system, you will be able to request items from remote storage through the FOLIO Requests app. The basic workflows in the Requests app will be the same as for on-campus items.
For more information on FOLIO’s remote storage functionality, see the Settings documentation for Remote Storage.
You may want to set up delivery requests if your library delivers items to certain patrons. For example, if your library sends items requested by faculty to their office, delivery requests will provide you with the patron’s address and the option to check the item out to the patron upon fulfillment.
Delivery must first be turned on in a patron’s user record, and they must have a default delivery address listed in their account. You can configure this setting manually or through a batch load. The steps below detail how to manually turn on delivery and process a delivery request.
Delivery requests are not treated any differently from items being routed to the hold shelf. The delivery request will trigger once the item is checked in at any location.
When checking in a delivery request, you have two options: check the item out to the patron or wait to process the request.
To check the item out to the patron, follow these steps:
To wait to process the request, follow these steps:
In addition to workflows that take place in a single app, library staff will also want to know about workflows that cross multiple apps, such as managing fees and fines, and managing loans and circulation rules together.
FOLIO allows libraries to charge fees and fines to patron library accounts. Charges can be for various reasons like room rentals; overdue return of a book; or replacing an item that the patron never returned. In FOLIO these are generally categorized together as Fees and fines or Fees/fines.
Libraries can charge fees/fines manually or automatically.
Automatic fines fall in three categories:
They are charged automatically by FOLIO when items are loaned and not returned on time, according to the loan’s overdue policy and lost item policy.
Manual fees/fines, by contrast, are set up as categories in Settings > Users. They can be used for a wide variety of library charges, such as replacing a damaged item, renting a facility, or paying for a borrower card. Manual charges are always connected to a specific patron; they may be connected to a library item, but they are not connected to a library loan.
In FOLIO, fee/fine information is stored in two related objects: accounts and actions.
An account is the parent object. When a fee/fine is charged, an account object is always created.
An action is the child object where a transaction on an account is stored.
One account will have one or more actions associated with it.
Suppose Julia Smith is a patron at Normal University Library. She borrows a book and fails to return it to the library before it ages to lost.
When the item ages to lost, Julia is charged $100 as a set cost lost item fee, and $25 as a lost item processing fee.
The $100 replacement fee and $25 processing fee are each separate accounts charged to Julia.
Suppose that Julia can’t return the book and decides to pay for the item. She comes into the library and pays $50 in cash. For the $100 replacement fee, the library elects to waive $75 and accept $25 in payment. They apply the other $25 to pay her processing fee.
In FOLIO, the underlying account and action data would appear as follows.
Account #1: This represents the $100 charge to Julia as the set cost lost item fee. There would be three associated actions:
The Library could choose to waive the $75 first and then mark $25 as paid, in which case action 2 and action 3 would flip in order, but the result would still be the same - paying and closing the account, closing the loan, and changing the item status to Lost and paid.
Account #2: This represents the $25 processing fee, and it has two associated actions.
In FOLIO, a fee/fine owner represents the agent or office that manages fines for FOLIO transactions.
If you plan to charge any fines, you need to set up at least one fee/fine owner. FOLIO does not require that a fee/fine owner represent a specific office or part of a library system. A fee/fine owner could represent an individual, a specific office, or a specific library.
Fee/fine owners are configured in Settings > Users > Fee/fine > Owners
FOLIO libraries should configure a fee/fine owner for every service point in their FOLIO tenant, even if they don’t expect items attached to a particular service point to be loaned and generate fines. This is because if such a loan does occur, and no fee/fine owner is attached to the service point, the fine transaction will fail. Libraries may wish to create one fee/fine owner to attach to those service points as a backup in case fine transactions occur.
Most libraries want to collect overdue and lost fines according to an item’s owning location, so FOLIO uses the item’s location to determine which fee/fine owner to link to the fine. FOLIO does this by looking up the primary service point for the item location, and then looking up the fee/fine owner for that service point.
For an overdue fine, FOLIO uses an item’s effective location to determine the fee/fine owner.
For a lost item fee or lost item processing fee, FOLIO uses the item permanent location to determine the fee/fine owner. If the item permanent location is not set, FOLIO uses the permanent holdings location instead.
Fines always accrue this way even if an item’s location is not part of the circulation rule that was used for the loan that accrued a fine.
Julia Smith wants to borrow a book that is on the shelf at the Science Library, for pickup at the Law Library.
The book’s location information looks like this:
Julie borrows the book from the Law Library service point and doesn’t return it. The item ages to lost, with a $100 set cost lost item fee and a $25 lost item processing fee.
When the item is aged to lost:
FOLIO charges both the $100 lost item fee and the $25 lost item processing fee and associates them to “Science and Engineering Business Office” as the owner.
Notices function differently for fees/fines that are charged manually, versus fees/fines that are charged automatically.
For a manual fee/fine, you have two types of notices that you can use - the charge notice and the action notice.
You can create templates for both types of notices in Settings>Circulation>Patron Notices>Patron notice templates. For a charge notice, choose the notice category “Manual fee/fine charge.” For an action notice, choose “Manual fee/fine action (pay, waive, refund, transfer, or cancel/error)”.
In Settings>Users>Fee/fine>Manual charges, you can select the appropriate fee/fine owner, and associate a charge notice and an action notice to that manual charge. You can select default charge and/or action notice templates for the owner, or specify different charge notice templates for individual fee/fine types.
When you create a manual charge on a patron’s account, or apply an action to an existing charge, if there is an associated notice template, a checkbox option will allow you to choose if the patron should be notified.
Notices for automatic fees/fines are determined by the associated circulation rule.
The notice policy of an item determines whether patrons will be sent fee/fine notices for overdue or lost item charges..
Overdue fine, returned and Overdue fine, renewed notices always bundle multiple fees/fines. In both cases, the associated template must include the {{#feeCharges}} {{/feeCharges}} token for multiple loans.
You can send Lost item fee(s) charged notices throughout the day (typically processed every five minutes, with a separate notice for each fee/fine charged). You can also choose to bunch and send them overnight in one email (processed at 11:59pm). See Settings > Circulation > Fee/ fine notices triggering events.
Send overnight is good for long-term loans, while Send throughout the day is a good option for short-term loans. If you choose Send overnight then the associated template must include the {{#feeCharges}} {{/feeCharges}} token for multiple loans. If you choose Send throughout the day then the associated template must not include the {{#feeCharges}} {{/feeCharges}} token for multiple loans. Lost item fee(s) charged notices will be sent for both set cost and actual cost fees/fines and any applicable processing fees.
Lost item returned - fee(s) adjusted notices are always sent when the event is triggered, i.e. when the lost item is checked in. Lost item returned - fee(s) adjusted notices will be sent for both set cost and actual cost fees/fines, and any applicable processing fees.
FOLIO’s fee/fine system is very dynamic and allows for many different configuration options of loan length and fee/fine settings. It can be helpful to know how the underlying logic works when FOLIO computes an overdue or overdue recall fine amount.
The factors that are used when calculating overdue fines are
Because you can define fine rates and loan lengths in different intervals - minutes, hours, days, weeks or months - FOLIO’s approach is to take the length of time an item was overdue, convert it to minutes, and then compare that date/time to the fine interval - also in minutes - to determine how much to charge. This is fairly simple when a library charges fines for all hours, but can become much more complicated when charging fines only when an associated service point is open.
Note that FOLIO does not do calculations for overdue fees until the overdue or overdue recalled item is returned. Use reminder fees to have overdue items billed, and overdue notices sent, when an item becomes overdue.
Suppose a patron borrows an item that has a three hour loan period, with an overdue charge of $3/day. They borrow the item at 2 PM on September 1. The item is due back at 5 PM on September 1, but they don’t return it until 6 PM on September 2nd.
The factors that are used in the overdue fine calculation include:
So, once the item is returned, FOLIO computes the overdue fine like this:
Suppose a patron borrows an item that has a seven day loan period, with an overdue fine of $3/day. They borrow the item at 2 PM on May 1st. The item is due back at 11:59:59 PM on May 8th. The patron returns the item at 2 PM on May 11th.
The factors that are used in the overdue fine calculation include:
So, once the item is returned, FOLIO computes the overdue fine like this:
It is important to notice that the patron was charged for 2 days even though the item was returned on the 3rd day after it became overdue.
There is development planned to better handle calculating fines for closed periods, but it is not currently scheduled.
Reminder fees differ from overdue fines in that reminder fees are billed when an item becomes overdue, whereas overdue fines are billed when the item is returned.
| Sequence | Interval | Frequency | After | Fee | Notice method | Notice template | Block template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Day(s) | Overdue | 3 | 1st reminder | noblock | |
| 2 | 3 | Day(s) | Previous reminder | 3 | 2nd reminder | noblock | |
| 3 | 3 | Day(s) | Previous reminder | 6 | 3rd reminder | noblock |
Preconditions:
Reminder process:
A reminder fee policy has Create on closed days set to Yes, and the following schedule of fees:
| Sequence | Interval | Frequency | After | Fee | Notice method | Notice template | Block template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Day(s) | Overdue | 3 | 1st reminder | noblock |
Preconditions:
Reminder process:
A reminder fee policy has Create on closed days set to No, and the following schedule of fees:
| Sequence | Interval | Frequency | After | Fee | Notice method | Notice template | Block template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Day(s) | Overdue | 3 | 1st reminder | noblock |
Preconditions:
Reminder process:
When an item is declared lost, or an item ages to lost, the associated loan remains open, whether it is a set cost or actual cost fee/fine.
If the item is returned, and all associated fees/fines are removed, the loan is closed and the item’s status changes to either “Available” or “In Transit”, depending on where it was returned.
If the library resolves all fees/fines via payment, cancellation, or waiving, FOLIO automatically closes the fee/fine, closes the loan, and changes the item’s status to Lost and paid, even if no money is actually accepted by the library.
Some libraries have guidelines where they want items to age to lost, but they don’t want to assess a monetary penalty - for example, if they are not able to charge faculty, but they still want faculty borrowing to be blocked because lost items were not returned.
If you want FOLIO to age items to lost but not charge a fine, the recommendation is to use a lost item policy that charges Actual cost and does not charge a lost item processing fee.
When the item ages to lost, the loan remains open, the item has a status of Aged to lost, and no fines are charged. The loan can remain in this state for as long as your library defines it in the setting For lost items not charged a fee/fine, close the loan after in the lost item policy.
If you wish to resolve the loan without charging the patron a fine, go to the Lost items requiring actual cost pane in the Users app. Locate the fine transaction, and choose Do not bill in the actions menu. That will close the loan and move the item to a status of Lost and paid without charging the patron.
An item can be deleted even if an unpaid fee/fine is attached to the item record. This is a known issue, but development to address this has not yet been scheduled.
If an item is deleted, the underlying account record will remain. Deleting an item does not delete a fee/fine, and the fine record includes some item information stored directly, such as title, barcode, and item effective location. However, you will not be able to see the fine in the FOLIO user interface; instead you will see an error message.
Because of this issue, we recommend that libraries do not delete items with attached fees/fines. Checking for attached records can be done with a reporting or API query tool.
If you are using an API tool like Postman, a query like this will work, sent to your tenant instance of Okapi:
GET /accounts?query=itemId=="[Insert item UUID]"&limit=1000
FOLIO defines two types of automated fine charging: Set cost and Actual cost.
For Set cost charges, libraries specify a standard charge for a lost item in the associated lost item policy, and FOLIO charges the patron that amount when the item is declared lost or ages to lost.
For Actual cost charges, the item ages to lost automatically, but the library must specify the amount to charge the patron manually. In the Users app, there is a reporting view that lists items that have aged to lost and need to have a charge applied. Libraries can also choose to not charge the patron for the lost item by choosing “Do not bill” when processing the actual cost charge.
Note that if the lost policy has an associated processing fee, the processing fee will be charged when the item ages to lost, regardless of whether the policy uses set cost or actual cost.
FOLIO uses a system-managed process to age an item to a lost status and apply any associated charges. The process has two pieces to it. The first is a process that moves the item status from Checked out to Aged to lost. The second process applies any associated fees/fines
By default, FOLIO runs the Aged to lost process every thirty minutes, and the fines process five minutes later. Hosting providers may choose to change this schedule to meet a specific library’s needs.
Here is how aging an item to lost might look in practice. Note that this example also works for actual cost, but if the lost item policy is set to actual cost, the only charge that is automatically applied is the processing fee.
Consider the following scenario:
The “aged to lost” time counter would begin on May 2nd. The 28-day overdue period would end on May 29th at 11:59 PM
The timing might look something like this:
Both steps of this process can take time to run, so if you have a large number of loans waiting to be aged to lost, the timing on this may not be exact, and it may take longer to see all of the loans be processed. Delays depend on the number of loans your library has to process.
Suppose a patron borrows a laptop charger with a four hour loan time. They borrow the item at 2:05 PM, and it’s due at 6:05 PM. The library has a lost loan policy for chargers that says that you must bring it back within three hours of the due date/time or it will be declared lost, and the borrower will be charged $75.
If the patron doesn’t return the charger, it would be eligible to be aged to lost at 9:05 PM. The timing might look something like this:
So functionally that means that there is a time period between 9:05 PM and 9:35 PM (at the earliest) where an item may be past the expected time frame but still look like it is only overdue, or look like it has aged to lost but without the expected lost item fee.
This section of the documentation contains links to external sites. Please be advised that these sites are not maintained by the FOLIO Documentation Group and may be aligned with a different FOLIO release.
Library staff manage patron loans in FOLIO through three primary apps - Check in, Check out, and Users. Staff also can view information about loans in the Circulation log and Inventory apps.
The terms of a loan - who can borrow, how long they can borrow the item for, whether it can be renewed, what notices patrons receive, and whether any charges are accrued if the item is late - are determined by the circulation rule that is applied when the item is loaned, renewed, or has a due date change.
In FOLIO, a loan object contains specific information that supports circulation functions and reporting.
FOLIO treats loan activity differently depending on whether it is a short-term or a long-term loan. The distinction depends on the time interval of the loan.
Differences between the two types of loans include:
When a patron or FOLIO user requests to renew a loan, or a FOLIO user changes a loan’s due date, FOLIO reviews the circulation rule file and may do several things, depending on what it finds (and not necessarily in the order listed below).
Suppose Sofia Cruz is an undergraduate at Main University.
Main University has a circulation rule file that has different rules for patron groups. Main allows undergraduates to borrow books for 28 days with unlimited renewals, and allows graduate students to borrow books for 90 days with unlimited renewals. Two circulation rules in FOLIO make that happen:
g undergrad: l 28-day-loan r hold-only n standard-notice o standard-overdue i standard-lost
g grad-student: l 90-day-loan r allow-all n standard-notice o standard-overdue i standard-lost
Sofia’s FOLIO account has a user group of ‘undergrad’, so the first line in this rule applies. They are able to borrow books for a 28 day rolling loan with unlimited renewals.
Suppose Sofia borrows several books in February and continues to use them, so they continue renewing their loans. Over the summer, they start a graduate program at Main University, and the patron group on their FOLIO record changes from ‘undergrad’ to ‘grad-student’.
The next time Sofia renews their books, the second line of the circulation rule file applies:
g grad-student: l 90-day-loan r allow-all n standard-notice o standard-overdue i standard-lost
This is what FOLIO does when renewing Sofia’s items:
g grad-student ….90-day-loan and gives Sofia the new, 90-day rolling loan period.If you change information about an item that is currently on loan, nothing happens to the loan record. The loan may change if the item is renewed or if the loan due date is changed, and the change in the item information means a different circulation rule applies. See When a loan is renewed, or a loan due date is changed, what circulation rule applies and what policies are used?
When an item is checked in in FOLIO, the following steps happen (not necessarily in this order).
FOLIO does not track an explicit data attribute for in-house use of an item. Instead, FOLIO considers an item to be used “in-house” based on how the item status changes when it is checked in. If the item has a status of “Available” and is checked in at a service point assigned to its effective location, FOLIO considers that to be in-house use.
There is currently no way to generate a report of in-house use with an in-app report. One way to get at in-house use data is to use a tool like Postman to query the FOLIO API to return check-in records. Sending a GET request to your FOLIO instance like this:
/check-in-storage/check-ins?query=itemStatusPriorToCheckIn==“Available”
will return check-in records for in-house use.
You are prevented from deleting a loan policy through Settings > Circulation > Loan Policies if there are open loans associated with the loan policy.
You cannot delete a request policy through Settings > Circulation > Request policies that is part of circulation rules.
Request policies are only referenced when a request is placed, and are not stored on a subsequent loan, so they are fairly simple to delete, with the recommendation that you review your circ rules first.
For example, suppose you need to delete the request policy allow-all. The recommendation is to review your existing circulation rules and replace any references to allow-all with another request policy. Once you’ve done that, you can delete ‘allow-all’ from Settings > Circulation > Request Policies.
You cannot delete a notice policy through Settings > Circulation > Patron notice policies that is part of circulation rules.
Notice policies are only referenced when a loan is created, renewed, or a due-date is changed. They are fairly simple to delete, with the recommendation that you remove references to them in your circulation rules first.
For example, suppose you need to delete the notice policy faculty-semester-notice. First, you would review your circulation rules and update any references to faculty-semester-notice with another notice policy. Once you’ve done that, you can delete faculty-semester-notice from Settings > Circulation > Patron notice policies.
You are prevented from deleting an overdue fine policy through Settings > Circulation > Fee/Fine if there are open loans associated with the policy.
You are prevented from deleting a lost item policy through Settings > Circulation > Fee/Fine if there are open loans associated with the policy.
If you remove a circulation rule from your circulation rule file, nothing happens to existing loans that used that circulation rule.
If a user tries to renew a loan that would have been renewed with the circulation rule that was removed from the file, FOLIO will review the circ rules for another matching rule. If it does not find at least one other matching rule remaining in the file, it will use the fallback rule.
FOLIO supports SIP2, an industry standard protocol for connecting self-service stations to library systems.
Patron self-service systems can connect to FOLIO with SIP2 using FOLIO’s SIP2 edge module. Setting this up generally requires working with your FOLIO administrator and/or hosting provider.
More information on SIP2 configuration can be found in the edge module documentation in Github - https://github.com/folio-org/edge-sip2.
When an item is loaned, FOLIO needs to be able to calculate the item’s due date. It uses information from the patron record, the loan policy, and the calendar for the service point where the library staff member is logged in.
The error message “Calendar timetable is absent for requested date” means that FOLIO can’t find calendar information up to and including the calculated due date of the item.
The first troubleshooting step is to review the calendar for the service point in Settings > Calendar to ensure that you have provided a calendar for the length of time necessary.
This error message can be confusing when you consider how due dates are truncated to a user’s expiration date. Suppose you have the following scenario:
The calculated due date of August 14th is inclusive of the calendar information stored in FOLIO. However, the checkout will still fail with “Calendar timetable is absent for requested date.”
That is because FOLIO first calculates the due date without considering the patron expiration, and then checks the patron expiration date to see if the item should be due sooner. So because there is no calendar information extending out to December 15th, FOLIO can’t do the full calculation and presents an error.