Renting Items

Rental items are items that patrons are charged for borrowing. Charges for rental items are calculated from the date of checkout instead of from the due date. Any item with an OPACMSG value of 'r' (RENTAL) is treated as a rental item. In most displays, the system indicates that an item is a rental item by including the term RENTAL in the Title or Status column. For example, the Title column might appear as:

RENTAL: Frog and Toad Together

To rent items, set up your library's rental collection. You can choose to use standard item rentals (the default model), or Innovative can enable immediate rental charges.

Setting Up Rental Collections

To set up a rental collection:

1. Choose either the standard or immediate rental charge model for renting items and configure your loan rules accordingly.
2. (Recommended) Assign rental items a unique ITYPE, LOCATION, or both. Set up your loan rule determiner table to ensure that rental loan rules are applied only to rental items.

   If the Loan Rule Determined by Login Location feature is enabled, the system uses the checkout LOCATION instead of the item LOCATION to determine the loan rule.

3. Identify the items you want to rent and assign an OPACMSG value of 'r' (RENTAL) to each item.

Standard Item Rentals

To set up standard item rentals, configure the fine variables in the loan rule you plan to use for rental items. You can specify the charge for a rental item as a rate of x for a period of y days/hours, followed by a rate of z for a period of n days/hours by using the following loan rule elements:

• Number Of D/HR 1st F Per
• Amount Of Fine 1st F Per
• Number Of D/HR 2nd F Per
• Amount Of Fine 2ND F Per

You should set the Number Of D/HR 1st F Per and Normal Loan Period elements to the same value. For standard check-outs, these loan rule elements are used for calculating overdue fines. However, for rental items, these elements are not used for calculating fines, but for calculating rental fees. For example, a loan rule for checking out rental videos might include the following settings:

• Normal Loan Period: 7
• Number Of D/HR 1st F Per: 7
• Amount Of Fine 1st F Per: $0.50
• Number Of D/HR 2nd F Per: 21
• Amount Of Fine 2ND F Per: $1.00

Under this loan rule, the charge for a video checked out on Monday and returned on Wednesday would be $1.50 (3 days at $0.50 per day). The charge for a video returned after 2 weeks would be $10.50 (7 times the first daily rate of $0.50 = $3.50, plus 7 times the second daily rate of $1.00 = $7.00; $10.50). When the item is checked in, the system automatically adds the rental charge to the patron record.

Immediate Rental Charge

When the Immediate Rental Charge feature is enabled, the system processes rental items in the following ways:

• Rental fees are immediately applied to the patron record and can be collected at check-out.
• Rental fees represent a fixed amount for the specified loan period.
• Renewals match the rental fee and loan period of the original rental.
• Rental fees can be collected at time of renewal.
• Fine notices for rental fees can use a unique text number.

After Innovative enables immediate rental charges, you must modify the following loan rule elements to implement this feature:

Grace Period For Fines

Set to 0. If this element contains a non-zero value, the system cannot properly apply rental fees.

Number Of D/HR 1st F Per

Specifies the duration of the first fine period (i.e., the period after the Normal Loan Period has elapsed).

Amount Of Fine 1st F Per

The amount to charge for each day/hour that elapses in the Number Of D/HR 1st F Per.

Number Of D/HR 2nd F Per

Specifies the duration of the second fine period (i.e., the period after the Number Of D/HR 1st F Per has elapsed).

Amount Of Fine 2ND F Per

The amount to charge for each day/hour that elapses in the Number Of D/HR 2nd F Per .

Rental Fee

The amount that it costs to rent the item for the Normal Loan Period. This amount is also applied to renewals.

Rental Circtext

Number of the circulation notice that the system generates for unpaid rental charges.

For example, a loan rule for checking out rental videos might include the following settings:

• Grace Period For Fines: 0
• Normal Loan Period: 3
• Number Of D/HR 1st F Per: 7
• Amount Of Fine 1st F Per: $1.00
• Number Of D/HR 2nd F Per : 14
• Amount Of Fine 2ND F Per: $1.50
• Rental Fee: $3.00
• Rental Circtext: 58

When a patron checks out an item under this loan rule, the system allows a loan period of three days and assesses a rental fee of $3.00. If you do not collect the rental charge upon checkout, the system generates a manual fine notice for the rental using message number 58 from the Text of Circulation Notices table.

If the patron returns the item within the three-day loan period, no further charge is added to his patron record. If the patron keeps the item longer than the three-day loan period, he is charged $1.00 for each additional day, up to 7 days. Thereafter, he is charged $1.50 per day until another 14 days have elapsed. In this case, he would owe a total of $31.00 for the rental (rental fee = $3.00, plus 7 times the first fine period rate of $1.00 = $7.00, plus 14 times the second fine period rate of $1.50 = $21.00; $31.00).

Depending on the settings of the loan rule, the patron may renew the item. Just like the original check-out, the renewal costs $3.00 and is good for three days.

See also:

Checking In a Rental Item

Checking Out a Rental Item

Renewing a Rental Item