Marking Items Lost and Claimed Returned

Lost Items

1) To mark items Lost, retrieve patron record and click Items Out.

2) Select the item. Click on Actions for Selected ItemsMark Lost (by Patron).

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3) The lost item now displays in the Lost/Claimed Returned/Long Overdue, Has Unpaid Billings section of the patron record.

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4) The lost item also adds to the count of Lost items in the patron summary on the left (or top) of the screen.

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Note

Lost Item Billing

  • Marking an item Lost will automatically bill the patron the replacement cost of the item as recorded in the price field in the item record, and a processing fee as determined by your local policy. If the lost item has overdue charges, the overdue charges may be voided or retained based on local policy.
  • A lost-then-returned item will disappear from the Items Out screen only when all bills linked to this particular circulation have been resolved. Bills may include replacement charges, processing fees, and manual charges added to the existing bills.
  • The replacement fee and processing fee for lost-then-returned items may be voided if set by local policy. Overdue fines may be reinstated on lost-then-returned items if set by local policy.

Refunds for Lost Items

If an item is returned after a lost bill has been paid and the library’s policy is to void the replacement fee for lost-then-returned items, there will be a negative balance in the bill. A refund needs to be made to close the bill and the circulation record. Once the outstanding amount has been refunded, the bill and circulation record will be closed and the item will disappear from the Items Out screen.

If you need to balance a bill with a negative amount and close the linked lost circulation record without making a refund (removing the item from the Lost, Claimed Returned, Long Overdue, Has Unpaid Bills panel on the Items Out screen), you need to add two dummy bills to the existing bills. The first one can be of any amount (e.g. $0.01), while the second should be of the absolute value of the negative amount. Then you need to void the first dummy bill. The reason for using a dummy bill is that Evergreen will check and close the circulation record only when payment is applied or bills are voided.

Claimed Returned Items

1) To mark an item Claimed Returned, retrieve the patron record and go to the Items Out screen.

2) Select the item, then select Actions for Selected ItemsMark Claimed Returned from the dropdown menu.

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3) Select a date and click Apply.

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4) The Claimed Returned item now displays in the Lost/Claimed Returned/Long Overdue, Has Unpaid Billings section of the patron record.

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5) The Claimed Returned item adds to the count of Check Outs that are Claimed Returned in the patron summary on the left (or top) of the screen. It also adds to the total Claims-returned Count (including those that are current Check Outs and those that have since been returned) that is displayed when editing the patron’s record.

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Note

More on Claimed Returned Items

  • The date entered for a Claimed Returned item establishes the fine. If the date given has passed, bills will be adjusted accordingly.
  • When a Claimed Returned item is returned, if there is an outstanding bill associated with it, the item will not disappear from the Items Out screen. It will disappear when the outstanding bills are resolved.
  • When an item is marked Claimed Returned, the value in Claims-returned Count field in the patron record is automatically increased. Staff can manually adjust this count by editing the patron record.