Calculating Overdue Fines

Overdue fines are calculated when the item is checked in and the check-in date/time is past the due date/time. Ordinarily, for daily and weekly loans, a fine is calculated if an item is returned the day following the due date. The patron has until the end of the due date to return the book, even if the check-out time was early in the day. For hourly loans, a fine is calculated according to the exact time due. The Fines policy table associates patron codes with fine codes to determine the fine for the overdue item (see Setting Fine Amounts).

Note:
If no fine can be determined in the Fines table, a message at check-in indicates that the fine cannot be calculated. The check-in clerk can set a fine manually, using the Overdue Amount box on the Resolve Billed Item dialog box, or by adding an entry in the Patron Status workform - Account view for the patron.

The following factors also affect the calculation of overdue fines:

Closed Dates

Your library can specify, at the system level, whether Polaris charges overdue fines on library closed dates. By default, Polaris does not charge overdue fines on closed dates.

The following administrative settings affect how Polaris calculates overdue fines:

Example:
The governing library for overdue fines designates January 1 as a closed date. The Overdues: Charge fines for dates closed parameter is set to No. If a patron returns an item to that library on January 2, 2024, fines are not charged for January 1.

Important:
The system uses dates defined at the system or library level if none are defined for the governing branch. For consistent results, you might want to leave the Dates Closed policy table empty at the system and library levels and set closed dates only at the branch level. Alternatively, consider setting the same closed dates at the system, library, and branch levels.

Days Not Fineable

You can designate specific days of the week as not fineable with the Patron Services parameter Days not fineable. You can set this parameter at the system, library, or branch level. You specify which branch’s setting for this parameter is used in fine calculation with the system-level Patron Services parameter Consortium Circulation (see Defining Fines and Fees).

Example:
A library designates Sunday as a “day not fineable” because the library is closed. If an item is due on Saturday and returned at the branch on Monday, fines are not charged for Sunday, based by default on the setting for the receiving branch (and regardless of the setting for the item’s assigned branch). No Sunday is calculated in a fine. For a book seven days overdue, the fine is calculated for six days because Sunday is not counted. For a book 14 days overdue, the fine is calculated for 12 days.

Important:
The system uses days defined at the system or library level if none are defined for the governing branch. For consistent results, you may want to leave the Days not fineable parameter set to None at the system and library levels and set days only at the branch level, or set the same days at the system, library, and branch levels.

Free Days

Free days are omitted from the overdue fine calculation during normal, bulk, or offline check in, and are typically set to cover unexpected closings. Libraries that allow items to be returned to non-Polaris libraries may find this feature especially useful; using the Free Days calendar control, staff can pick the date the item was returned at the non-Polaris library and the correct number of Free Days is automatically applied. The patron services parameters described below control free days A value applied at normal and bulk check-in, renewal, and offline that allows you to omit a specified number of days from the overdue fine calculation.. You can set the parameters at the system, library, and branch levels.

Note:
The governing library for fine calculation setting does not affect the free days parameters. The system always uses the free days settings of the receiving branch.

When an item is billed and declared lost, no free days are applied to the overdue fine calculation.

A check-in transaction subtype indicates how many free days were applied when the item was checked in. Also, if the patron was charged overdue fines when the item was checked in, the Properties dialog box for the charge in the patron account shows how many free days were applied and the amount that was deducted for the free days. To open the dialog box, right-click the charge in the Patron Status workform - Account view.

Grace Periods

A grace period allows a patron to return an item a little late without incurring a fine. The item is still marked as overdue in the patron record. Grace periods are set in association with specific patron code/item fine code combinations in the Fines policy table. For more information, see Setting Fine Amounts. A grace period differs from free days in that free days are omitted from the overdue fine calculation no matter when the item is checked in, whereas if an item is checked in after a grace period, the fine is calculated from the day or hour after the item due time.

Example:
If an item is checked out at 10:12 AM on Monday and circulates for a week, it becomes overdue at 12:00 AM on Tuesday (one minute after 11:59 PM on Monday). There is one grace day. Due to the grace period, the patron is not charged an overdue fine if the item is returned on or before 11:59 PM on Tuesday. If the item is returned after 11:59 PM on Tuesday, the patron is charged for one day overdue.

You can optionally include closed days and dates in your system’s grace period calculations. Set the system-level Patron Services parameter Overdues: Add closed days/dates to grace days to Yes to include these in the calculation. The default setting is No.

If you set the option to Yes, and the grace period includes one or more “days closed” as defined in the Patron Services parameter Hours of Operation or “closed dates” as defined in the Dates Closed policy table according to the governing library for fine calculation, the grace period will be extended by the number of closed days or dates. For example, if the number of grace days is 2 and if Sunday is a closed day, no fine will be assessed if the item is due on Friday and returned on Monday. But if Overdues: Add closed days/dates to grace days is set to No (the default value), only the two grace days, Saturday and Sunday, would be considered, and the fine would be assessed if returned on Monday.

Important:
The Free Days setting and the calculation of the actual fine amount are not affected by setting Overdues: Add closed days/dates to grace days to Yes. The grace period exempts the patron from the fine, but if grace days are exceeded, the fine is calculated as if there were no grace period.

Waiving Fines Automatically at Circulation

Two system-level Patron Services parameters control whether fines are waived automatically when items are recovered at circulation. To automatically waive the fine if an overdue item is found during check-out, set Overdues: Clear fine if recovered at check-out to Yes. To automatically waive the fine if the patron is renewing an overdue item, set Overdues: Clear fine if recovered at renewal to Yes. Both parameters are set to No by default. (These settings also apply to SIP self-check units.)

Note:
Separate settings control how overdue fines for lost items are handled. See Overdue Fines on Lost Items.

Charging Fines Automatically at Check In

The Patron Services parameter Check in: auto-charge fine from item work form and find tool context menu, controls whether overdue fines are automatically charged to the patron account when overdue items are checked in from the Item workform, the Find Tool context menu, or the Patron Status workform - Items Out view. The parameter is available at the system, library, and branch levels and is set to Yes by default.

When the parameter is set to Yes and an overdue item is checked in, the fine is automatically charged to the patron account. If the overdue item can fill an active hold request, the hold request message appears and the staff member takes action on the hold request message. (When the parameter is set to Yes and a billed item is checked in, the Resolve lost/billed item dialog box appears, the staff member resolves the billed charges, and the item is checked in. If the billed item can fill a request, the hold request message appears before the Resolve lost/billed item dialog box. The staff member takes action on the hold request message first.)

If the parameter is set to No, the Check In - Fine dialog box appears when the item is overdue, and the staff member resolves the fine accordingly. However, if the item can fill a hold request, the hold request message always appears first.

Fines for Claimed Items

A system-level Patron Services parameter controls whether fines are charged if an overdue item with a status of Claimed Returned or Claimed Never Had is checked in or checked out. To automatically waive overdue fines for these items at circulation, set Overdues: Charge fines for claimed items to No. This setting waives fines for overdue claimed items found at renewal, normal and offline check in and check out, and Polaris ExpressCheck check out. The parameter is set to Yes by default.

Setting a Maximum Overdue Fine Balance

If your library policy is that overdue fines cannot accrue over a certain dollar amount in the patron overdue fine balance, you can set a limit. See: Setting a Maximum Overdue Fine Balance Limit.