Charging Patrons an Annual Fee

If your library charges patrons a membership fee or other annual fee for library use, you can enable the Annual Fee for Patron Records feature to apply the annual charge automatically.

To charge an annual fee, contact Innovative and specify the amount you want to charge patrons and the P TYPE(s) you want to charge. Note that the system charges the same amount to all patrons with the P TYPE(s) you select.

When this feature is enabled, the system applies the annual fee by doing the following:

  1. Scans the database nightly for patron records with EXP DATE values that match the current date.
  2. Checks each expired patron's P TYPE to determine whether the patron should be charged an annual fee.
  3. Adds a fine to each patron record that should be charged. The fine has a charge type of Manual and the description "Annual Fee."

The system does not automatically update the patron's EXP DATE when charging or collecting money for the annual fee. When you collect money for the fee, be sure to also update the patron's EXP DATE fixed-length field by one year.

See also:
Fining and Penalizing Patrons