Knowledge Base: Library Help

Lost or Damaged Materials

See also the Appendix for TRAC Operational Guidelines

Declaring an Item Lost

Note: Make sure to check that the item is not on your shelves before you continue with the steps below.

From a Patron’s Account

1. Go to Patron Status.
2. Highlight the book you want to set to Lost by clicking on it once.
3. Click on the disappearing book to indicate the item is Lost.

4. The Declare lost item workform appears. Select OK to bill the patron.

The Lost item disappears from the Items Out view.

If the fee was charged to the patron’s account, a record of the charge may now be found in the Patron Status Accounts view.  Click on the Accounts icon on the Status Bar.

  Note:  You may need to click on the Refresh icon to update charges and credits.

If the fee was waived or if the fee was paid, a record can only be found in the Transaction Summary, because all transactions with a balance of $0.00 are removed from the Patron Status – Accounts view.

To view the Transaction Summary

Click on the Transaction Summary icon on the Toolbar of the Patron Status – Accounts view.

Note:  Transactions remain in the Transaction Summary indefinitely.

Right click on a transaction.  A dropdown menu will appear.  Depending on which option was chosen when the item was declared lost, different choices will be available on the menu. The most used options are:

• Print – print the transaction summary
• Pay – process the payment
• Waive – waive the fine/fee
• Credit – credit the paid amount to the patron’s account which will show in the accounts window
• Refund – you have refunded the paid amount to the patron. The amount will not show in the accounts window but does in the Transaction Summary
• History – provides additional information on the transaction (eg. How the item was paid for, user’s name, notes, etc)
• Properties – provides information about the transaction and item

If the Lost Item is Found – See also the Appendix for TRAC Operational Guidelines for found ILLs

Note:  If the item was waived or has not been paid for yet, no Resolve Lost Item call box appears, because there are no charges to resolve.

1. Check the item in.  The Resolve Lost Item box opens with the patron and item barcode, summary of fines for this item, and available actions.

Note:  The Status of the item must be Lost not Withdrawn for the Resolve box to open.   If the Status is Withdrawn you may manually charge the patron’s account if desired.

2. Click on the Actions dropdown menu arrow.
3. Choose the appropriate item from the Actions from the menu.  Depending on if the item was previously charged or paid, different options will be available.

4. Click on OK. Status changes from Lost to In, charge is removed from patron’s account if item was refunded (but will be recorded in the Transaction Summary), or a credit will appear on patron’s account if credited.

Damaged Items – See also the Appendix for TRAC Operational Guidelines

1. Decide if the damage is repairable or not and change the status to Withdrawn or Mending on the Item Record accordingly.
2. Charge the patron a fine.
   1. Go to the patron’s account in the Patron Status – Accounts workform:
   2. Click on the Charge icon on the Taskbar.

3. The Charge window opens.

4. Add the cost of the replacement or reparation service.  Charge the price of the item if the item is being replaced or an appropriate repair cost if the item is being repaired.
5. Click on the Reason dropdown menu arrow and choose either Replacement Cost or Damaged material. 
6. Scan or type the barcode or use the find tool to add the Associated Item information.
7. Add a Note as needed.
8. Click on OK. The charge is added to the patron’s account. 

Claim Returned/Never Had – See also the Appendix for TRAC Operational Guidelines

1. Once you have found the patron, choose Patron Status - Items Out view on the Status Bar
2. Highlight the book you want to set to Claim Returned/Claim Never Had by clicking on it once.

3. Click on the Make Claim Icon

4. The Make Claim dialogue box opens.

5. From the dropdown menu, choose either Claim Returned or Claim Never Had.
6. Click OK. The item will disappear from the Items Out workform.

To view the claimed item, from the Patron Status workform, click on the Claims Icon  on the Status Bar. 

Note:  Notice at the bottom of the screen, Claims Total is 1, Current is 1.  If the item is checked In the Claim will be removed from the patron’s account.  Current will be 0, but Claims Total will remain at 1.

After entering the claim, CHANGE THE STATUS OF THE ITEM TO: Withdrawn, Missing, Bindery, or Unavailable.

Note:  The item’s status must be “In” before you can change the status.

1. Click on Cataloguing, then Item Records.
2. Search for the item by barcode or title.
3. Press Enter or Search. The results will appear in the box below, double click on the item you require, and the Item Record workform appears.
4. Click on the Circulation Status dropdown menu.

5. Choose Withdrawn, Missing, Bindery, or Unavailable.
6. Save the change by clicking on the save icon  or CNTL+S.

Claimed to Lost Report

The TRAC Operational Guidelines explain that a Claim Returned or Claim Never Had item can be considered Lost after six months and the Transacting library can be invoiced.

Note: The owning library should check its shelves and ask the transacting library to do the same before proceeding to convert the claimed item to lost.

Although there is no function in Polaris for physically changing a Claim status to a lost status in either the item record or the patron record (Status view), the Owning library may consider the item lost and invoice for it.  The Transacting library is obligated to pay the invoice in the same way that it is for any other lost item and may choose whether to recover the cost from its patron or wandering patron.

1. Send an Invoice
   1. Owning Library:  In the Claimed Report (Reports & Notices, Cataloguing, Item), you will see the Item Claimed Date.  Calculating from this date, the owning library generally waits six months before invoicing for the claimed item.  If you decide NOT to invoice, delete the item record so that it doesn’t keep showing up in the claimed report each time you generate it.  [NOTE:  Deleting the item record will also delete the claimed information from the patron record.]  If the owning library wishes to be reimbursed for the claimed item—at the latest, it should invoice the transacting library within a year of the item becoming claimed.  If the owning library waits longer to invoice than a year from the date the item became claimed, the transacting library is not obligated to pay the invoice.
   2. Transacting Library:  When you receive an invoice for a claimed item that is now considered lost, your library must pay the Owning library’s invoice.  If you want the claim information to be retained, place a note in your patron’s record restating the claim information (which you will find in their Status View), because this information will disappear from the patron record’s Status View once the owning library receives your payment and deletes its item record.  If you intend to recover the payment from your patron, manually create a charge in the Status View—Account of the patron record, including the item barcode and an explanation in the note field that it was a claimed item now considered lost.

2. Record the Payment

Once the owning library has received payment from the Transacting library, the owning library should place a “paid” note in the item record’s Temp Location field, re-save the record, and then delete the item record so it doesn’t show up the next time the claimed report is generated.