How Sierra Determines Eligibility for Renewal

Your library's settings for the following system options affect an item's eligibility for renewal:

The Renewals: Prompt for renewal circulation option determines whether the system permits renewals of overdue items.
The Renewals: Check loanrule at time of renewal circulation option governs whether the system recomputes the loan rule before determining whether an item can be renewed.

Innovative can configure the system to check for holds at the owning site of an INN-Reach item before it authorizes you to renew that item. For more information, see Check for Owning-Site Holds before allowing INN-Reach Renewals.

When you attempt to renew an item, Sierra evaluates each of the following conditions to determine whether to allow the renewal:

The number of previous renewals. The system uses the item record's # RENEWALS fixed-length field to determine how many times the patron has renewed the item. The system compares this value to the Max Number of Renewals parameter in the loan rule used for the checkout. If the # RENEWALS value is greater than or equal to the Max Number of Renewals parameter, the renewal is blocked.
The amount of time left in the loan period. The system determines how many days or hours are left in the loan period by subtracting the item's DUE DATE fixed-length field from the current date. The system compares this value to the Time Remaining B4 Renew loan rule parameter. If the time remaining in the loan period is greater than the Time Remaining B4 Renew value, the renewal is blocked.
Whether the item is overdue. When you renew an overdue item, the system consults the Renewals: Prompt for renewal circulation option. If this option is set to "NO", the system blocks the renewal. For more information, see Renewing an Overdue Item.
When a patron self-renews an item (for example, using WebPAC or Express Lane), the system consults the Patron can renew own items OPAC option instead of the Renewals: Prompt for renewal circulation option.
Blocks on the patron's record. The system checks for any conditions that would block the patron from checking out items. If the patron is blocked, the renewal is not allowed.
Holds on the item being renewed. The system checks for any title-, volume-, or item-level holds on the item. If the item has holds, the system determines whether the item can satisfy any of those holds. If the item can satisfy a hold, the renewal is not allowed. Note that the system does not consider frozen holds when blocking items from renewal.
If the Renew Title Holds feature is enabled, you can override title- and volume-level holds when renewing items. With this feature, you can also choose to allow patrons to renew checkouts on items if there are more available copies than existing title- or volume-level holds.
If your library keeps certain copies of popular items on circulating shelves for patrons that come in to browse, Innovative can modify your system to not check for holds on those items during renewals. See Skip Hold Check for more information.
INN-Reach holds on the item being renewed. If the Check for Owning-Site Holds before allowing INN-Reach Renewals feature is enabled, the system checks the renewed item for holds at the owning site. If the system finds any owning site holds, the renewal is blocked.
Bookings on the item being renewed. The system checks for any bookings on the item and compares the renewal due date to the Wanted From date of the booking. If the renewal period overlaps the booking, the renewal is blocked.

See also:: Possible Messages (Renewing Items); Calculating the New Due Date for a Renewal