Notices (Sierra)
You can print or email the following types of circulation notices, depending on the permissions assigned to your Sierra login.
Table of Contents
- 1 Notices That Should be Run by All Members
- 1.1 Bib or Title Paging List Notices (Run Daily)
- 1.2 Creating a Bib or Title Paging List Notice
- 1.3 Bills Notices
- 1.4 Creating a Bills Notice
- 1.5 Courtesy Notice (Optional)
- 1.6 Creating a Courtesy Notice
- 1.7 Hold Cancellation Only Notice (Run Daily)
- 1.8 Creating a Hold Cancellation Only Notice
- 1.9 Hold Pickup Only Notice
- 1.10 Creating a Hold Pickup Only Notice
- 1.11 INN-Reach Paging Slips Notice (Prospector Libraries Only)
- 1.12 Creating INN-Reach Paging Slip Notice
- 1.13 Item Paging Slip Notice (Run Daily)
- 1.14 Overdue Notice
- 1.14.1 Overdue Variables
- 1.15 Creating an Overdue Notice
- 2 Notices Specific to Certain Library
- 3 OTHER NOTICES (INFORMATION ONLY)
- 4 SAVING NOTICES (Save & Save As)
- 5 Sending Manual Notices
- 6 Notices Sent to Patrons
- 7 Paging Notices
- 8 Other Notice Features
- 9 How Often To Run Each Notice Type
- 10 Related Documentation
Notices That Should be Run by All Members
The notices sent to a patron are determined by Loan Rules for courtesy notices, overdue notices, hold pickup notices, cancellation notices and bill notices. Other patron notices such as statements of charges or checked-out items can be sent on an as-needed basis by library staff. Notices such as paging slips are generated according to hold parameters.
Bib or Title Paging List Notices (Run Daily)
The title-paging list contains a list of items that have been paged to fulfill a title-level hold. A title page is generated when you place a title-level hold and choose to page for the title.
According to the Patron Placed Holds (PPH) Best Practices document, the Bib or Title Paging Lists should be run daily at the same time. It is up to the participating library how many times a day these notices are run.
ALWAYS scan the item, even if the item is non-circulating. This way, the next library owning the item will get an item or title page slip. Sierra traps a hold for 24 hours. If your library does not want to fulfill this hold, choosing the option “Check in, and do not fulfill the hold” will move the hold to the next available item faster.
Paging and the Not Wanted Before Date - If a hold has a Not Wanted Before date in the future, the hold is queued for paging but does not display in the Title Paging list until the Not Wanted Before date has passed.
Possible duplicate entries occur if there is more than one hold on a title (either for the same patron or for different patrons); the same entry can appear more than once on your location's list. This can occur when two item level holds are placed on the same item. Both holds will appear in the item level paging slips. This will also happen when two holds get placed at almost the same time. Two simultaneous holds might appear in the bib/tile paging slips, but only one will actually get filled. Unfortunately, it is a system glitch that causes the slips to appear more than once on your notice list.
Once you run the report, pull the requested items from the shelf and scan the item barcodes using the Check-In (No Patron) function of Sierra.
At this point, the screen will give the choices of:
“Fulfill hold” will fulfill the hold for the requesting patron
“Check in, do not fulfill hold” (this option can be used for items that are in disrepair, non-circulating or have other issues. This will send the hold to another library.
ALWAYS scan the item, even if the item is non-circulating. This way, the next library owning the item will get an item or title page slip.
Read the screen to make sure the item is properly routed.
Cancel Hold will cancel the patron’s hold.
(Never Cancel Holds from this screen unless the print hold cancellation notice option is chosen. Otherwise canceling a hold will cause the marmot patron to lose their hold on the item without warning. (This process can also be managed by using the Search Holds module or / View Holds report or by moving the patron on the queue option.)
Items to be picked up at your own library can be placed on the hold shelf for patron pick up via standard notification options (e-mail, phone, letter, etc). Items should remain on the hold shelf for eight (8) days.
Returning items can be bundled together with the patron-initiated hold items traveling to the same location. The item barcode will be scanned and checked in when the item(s) reaches the owning library.
Missing items & Item status: If an item cannot be located, please change the item status on the computer or if time allows, replace the hold for the patron. The other option is to cancel the hold and send a Hold Cancellation Only notice, which will update the patron or the requesting library that a hold was canceled.
Creating a Bib or Title Paging List Notice
Go to Notices from the Sierra Function menu.
Click on the New icon.
The New Job box will appear. The Notice Type always defaults to Overdue. Under Locations will be your library or library branch. Note: Make sure to not change from your library location to All. This would send out notices to all the Marmot libraries.
Use the Notice Type drop-down menu to change from Overdue to Title Paging List.
You may want to sort the Title Paging List notice. Click on the Sort By button.
This will bring up the Sort Notices box. To sort the order in which the notices are generated, click Sort By. The system displays the Sort Notices table, which consists of three columns:
Line: The order in which the entry is applied. In other words, the system sorts the notices by the entry in Line 1 and then sub sorts them by the entry in Line 2.
Type: The record type that contains the field by which the system sorts the notices. You can choose fields from three record types: Bibliographic, Item, or Patron.
Field: The field in the selected record type by which the system sorts the notices (e.g., Location or Call #).
Double click on the box under Type to bring up the Select Me box. For this example, we are going to use the Type of Item. Click on Item, and click the OK button.
Next, we are going to double click on the box under Field to bring up the Select Me box again. This time, we are going to pick the Fixed Field of Location. This will sort the notices in alphabetical order by the location of each item.
We are going to add a second line to this sort. Click on the Append button to add a second line.
We would repeat steps 7 & 8 to add the Type of Item, and Variable Field of Call #. This would sort the list first by location and next by the item call # for each of those locations. Click the Save button.
This will change the information on the button to Sorted By Location, Call#. Next, we will review the Select Template button. If you do not want to use a template, skip to step 14.
Click on the Select Template button to add a Print Template. If you do not have a Print Template in your preferred templates, you will see everyone’s print templates. Contact the User Services Manager or ILS Administrator to have a print template created for your library. If you see your template, highlight it and click Select. If you want to use a Print template, but your Select Template button is grayed out, contact Marmot.
The Select Template button will be renamed to include the print template name.
Click the Save icon. This will bring up the Select Form Printer box to set up the printer for your Title Paging Lists notice. The Sierra Printer Setup explains more about the Local and E-mail Printer options.
For this example, we are going to pick the E-mail Printer option. Once the prompts are followed to add an email address, we will get the Save Job As? box. It is best to do a naming convention that includes your library name or your 2 or 3-letter library code, and the name of the notice. If you run your notices manually, you could also include how many times to run the notice in the Job Name (i.e. EVG Title Paging Slips 1x a day). You could also use Bib instead of Title. If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
This will put the Job Name at the top. Click the Close icon.
The newly created notice will show up in the Notices for your library or library branch. The notice drop-down was for Title Paging Lists, but the Notice Type is Bib Paging Lists. This change is made within the system.
Bills Notices
Billing for lost items is based on the patron’s home library’s rules (not the owning Library). You must run the highest level of overdue notices in order to generate replacement bills for unreturned items.
When sending notices by mail, the best practice is to send a copy to the patron’s home library.
Sierra can generate the following bill:
Replacement Bill - The system generates a replacement bill when you mark an item lost or when a patron fails to return a checked-out item. When marking an item lost, it causes the system to bill the item immediately, rather than in the normal cycle of notice printing and billing. Mark an item as lost only if you need to bill it immediately; for example, if a patron wishes to pay for a lost book before a notice has been prepared by the system.
Billed Items Fee Collection: The home library for the Patron Place Hold (PPH) borrowing patron PH) will collect all billing fees for lost items from their patrons. The item's home library will not collect the money. According to the PPH Best Practices, you will not charge each other for items lost in the PPH process.
Billed items to Lost items: The owning library may contact the lending library to mark items lost on their patron’s record, which will allow the owning library to delete or modify the record as they see fit.
No money is exchanged between libraries for lost items. Lending libraries should contact owning libraries to see if they will accept a replacement copy and if only an exact copy is acceptable or if a newer/different edition is acceptable.
A list of libraries that will accept a replacement copy is available on the Marmot Patron Placed Holds Help. If a replacement is not accepted by the owning library, a replacement copy can be added instead to the borrowing library’s collection, which will make the item available again in Marmot. Each library will determine the price they will bill to their own patrons for lost PPH items.
Stolen and damaged books are handled like any other lost book. The owning library should work with CLIC if an item is damaged by the courier.
Creating a Bills Notice
Go to Notices from the Sierra Function menu.
Click on the New icon.
The New Job box will appear. The Notice Type always defaults to Overdue. Under Locations will be your library or library branch. Note: Make sure to not change from your library location to All. This would send out notices to all the Marmot libraries.
Use the Notice Type drop-down menu to change from Overdue to Bills.
Note: if a multi-branch library would only like to have one person or library send out the Bills notice, the Location Served can be set to the main location code for those libraries.
Click on the Email Subject (Default) button to change what your patrons will see as an email subject line when receiving a notice. See Sierra Changing the email subject line for notices for more information on how to change the email subject for existing notices.
Once you click on the Email Subject (Default) button, the Email Subject box will appear. Click on the 4. Billing Notice – Library materials line. Click OK.
The Email Subject button will change from Email Subject (Default) to Email Subject (4). Next, we will review the Select Template button. If you do not want to use a template, skip to step 10.
If the Include Telephone Number is available, you would click this box to include the patron’s phone number. If the Include Amount Owed is available, you could check the box to include the total amount, if any, that the patron owes the library.
Click on the Select Template button to add a Print Template. If you do not have a Print Template in your preferred templates, you will see everyone’s print templates. Contact the User Services Manager or ILS Administrator to have a print template created for your library. If you see your template, highlight it and click Select. If you want to use a Print template, but your Select Template button is grayed out, contact Marmot.
The Select Template button will be renamed to include the print template name.
Click the Save icon. This will bring up the Select Form Printer box to set up the printer for your Bills notice. The Sierra Printer Setup explains more about the Local and E-mail Printer options.
For this example, we are going to pick the E-mail Printer option. Once the prompts are followed to add an email address, we will get the Save Job As? box. It is best to do a naming convention that includes your library name or your 2 or 3-letter library code, and the name of the notice. If you run your notices manually, you could also include how many times to run the notice in the Job Name (i.e. EVG Bills Notice 1x a day). If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
This will put the Job Name at the top. Click the Close icon.
The newly created notice will show up in the Notices for your library or library branch. The Notice Type will show as Bills.
Courtesy Notice (Optional)
Sierra generates courtesy notices for your patrons to inform them that their items are almost due. Multiple items can appear on a single patron's courtesy notice. The system does not generate courtesy notices for hourly loans.
It is recommended that courtesy notices be configured as nightly auto notices or run daily, as the system generates courtesy notices only for the day they are run.
The system will not print notices from prior days. Using auto notices to send courtesy notices ensures that patrons receive courtesy notices even on days when your library is closed.
When you run courtesy notices, the system also updates the item ODUE DATE field in the item record. This update prevents a second notice from being sent if courtesy notices are run again. Running courtesy notices does not increase the overdue level specified in the # OVERDUE field of the item record.
Creating a Courtesy Notice
Go to Notices from the Sierra Function menu.
Click on the New icon.
The New Job box will appear. The Notice Type always defaults to Overdue. Under Locations will be your library or library branch. Note: Make sure to not change from your library location to All. This would send out notices to all the Marmot libraries.
Use the Notice Type drop-down menu to change from Overdue to Courtesy.
Note: if a multi-branch library would only like to have one person or library send out the Courtesy notice, the Location Served can be set to the main location code for those libraries.
Click on the Email Subject (Default) button to change what your patrons will see as an email subject line when receiving a notice. See Sierra Changing the email subject line for notices for more information on how to change the email subject for existing notices.
Once you click on the Email Subject (Default) button, the Email Subject box will appear. Click on the 1. Courtesy Notice – your Library materials are due soon line. Click OK.
The Email Subject button will change from Email Subject (Default) to Email Subject (1). Next, we will review the Select Template button. If you do not want to use a template, skip to step 10.
Click on the Select Template button to add a Print Template. If you do not have a Print Template in your preferred templates, you will see everyone’s print templates. Contact the User Services Manager or ILS Administrator to have a print template created for your library. If you see your template, highlight it and click Select. If you want to use a Print template, but your Select Template button is grayed out, contact Marmot.
The Select Template button will be renamed to include the print template name.
Click the Save icon. This will bring up the Select Form Printer box to set up the printer for your Courtesy notice. The Sierra Printer Setup explains more about the Local and E-mail Printer options.
For this example, we are going to pick the E-mail Printer option. Once the prompts are followed to add an email address, we will get the Save Job As? box. It is best to do a naming convention that includes your library name or your 2 or 3-letter library code, and the name of the notice. If you run your notices manually, you could also include how many times to run the notice in the Job Name (i.e. EVG Courtesy Notice 1x a day). If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
This will put the Job Name at the top. Click the Close icon.
The newly created notice will show up in the Notices for your library or library branch. The Notice Type will show as Courtesy.
Hold Cancellation Only Notice (Run Daily)
The system generates a hold cancellation notice when a hold is canceled, or when unclaimed holds are removed from the hold shelf.
Sierra sends hold notices to patrons when you prepare and send hold cancellation notices.
According to the Patron Placed Holds (PPH) Best Practices document, the Hold Cancellation Notices should be run every day. Hold cancellation notices/letters will be generated and can be sent to patrons. Libraries may choose to address each notice before alerting the patron.
Run the Manage Holds report at least two times a week. This report lists all the items on the hold shelf. This report is used to troubleshoot holds that have not changed status. It is recommended that the “holds placed before” on the report should be no longer than 7 days unless the item is currently checked out or there are multiple holds on the item, therefore the wait will be longer. In transit, items should not remain in transit status for more than 7 days.
The Sierra Clear Expired Holds and Holdshelf function is important to run on a regular basis to keep the virtual hold shelf and actual hold shelf in sync.
Creating a Hold Cancellation Only Notice
Go to Notices from the Sierra Function menu.
Click on the New icon.
The New Job box will appear. The Notice Type always defaults to Overdue. Under Locations will be your library or library branch. Note: Make sure to not change from your library location to All. This would send out notices to all the Marmot libraries.
Use the Notice Type drop-down menu to change from Overdue to Hold Cancellation Only.
Note: if a multi-branch library would only like to have one person or library send out the Hold Cancellation Only notice, the Location Served can be set to the main location code for those libraries.
Click on the Email Subject (Default) button to change what your patrons will see as an email subject line when receiving a notice. See Sierra Changing the email subject line for notices for more information on how to change the email subject for existing notices.
Once you click on the Email Subject (Default) button, the Email Subject box will appear. Click on the 6. Hold Cancellation Notice – your library request line. Click OK.
The Email Subject button will change from Email Subject (Default) to Email Subject (6). Next, we will review the Select Template button. If you do not want to use a template, skip to step 10.
Click on the Select Template button to add a Print Template. If you do not have a Print Template in your preferred templates, you will see everyone’s print templates. Contact the User Services Manager or ILS Administrator to have a print template created for your library. If you see your template, highlight it and click Select. If you want to use a Print template, but your Select Template button is grayed out, contact Marmot.
The Select Template button will be renamed to include the print template name.
Click the Save icon. This will bring up the Select Form Printer box to set up the printer for your Hold Cancellation Only notice. The Sierra Printer Setup explains more about the Local and E-mail Printer options.
For this example, we are going to pick the E-mail Printer option. Once the prompts are followed to add an email address, we will get the Save Job As? box. It is best to do a naming convention that includes your library name or your 2 or 3-letter library code, and the name of the notice. If you run your notices manually, you could also include how many times to run the notice in the Job Name (i.e. EVG Hold Cancellation Notice 1x a day). If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
This will put the Job Name at the top. Click the Close icon.
The newly created notice will show up in the Notices for your library or library branch. The Notice Type will show as Hold Cancellation Only.
Hold Pickup Only Notice
When you check in an item that satisfies a hold, the system prompts you to generate a hold pickup notice. Anytime an item with a hold is checked in, there will be a pop-up box asking you to click on one of three choices: Fulfill hold, Check in, do not fulfill hold, or Cancel hold.
Fulfill hold – This will change the item status to “on hold shelf”
Check in, do not fulfill hold – This will move the hold to another library
Cancel hold – This will cancel the patron’s hold. This should not be clicked unless you know the patron wants their hold canceled.
When you click the Fulfill hold button, the system adds this hold to your Sierra notices.
Sierra sends hold notices to patrons when you prepare and send the hold pickup notice.
An individual hold notice can contain information about multiple items relating to a single patron.
Creating a Hold Pickup Only Notice
Go to Notices from the Sierra Function menu.
Click on the New icon.
The New Job box will appear. The Notice Type always defaults to Overdue. Under Locations will be your library or library branch. Note: Make sure to not change from your library location to All. This would send out notices to all the Marmot libraries.
Use the Notice Type drop-down menu to change from Overdue to Hold Pickup Only.
Note: if a multi-branch library would only like to have one person or library send out the Hold Pickup Only notice, the Location Served can be set to the main location code for those libraries.
Click on the Email Subject (Default) button to change what your patrons will see as an email subject line when receiving a notice. See Sierra Changing the email subject line for notices for more information on how to change the email subject for existing notices.
Once you click on the Email Subject (Default) button, the Email Subject box will appear. Click on the 5. Hold Notification - pick up your request(s) at the library line. Click OK.
The Email Subject button will change from Email Subject (Default) to Email Subject (5). Next, we will review the Sort By button. If you do not want to use a sort, skip to step 12.
Next, you may want to sort the Hold Pickup Only notice by Holds. Click on the Sort By button. This will sort the holds by title for your patrons. This is optional.
This will bring up the Sort Notices box. To sort the order in which the notices are generated, click Sort By.
The system displays the Sort Notices table, which consists of three columns:
Line: The order in which the entry is applied. In other words, the system sorts the notices by the entry in Line 1 and then sub sorts them by the entry in Line 2.
Type: The record type that contains the field by which the system sorts the notices. You can choose fields from three record types: Bibliographic, Item, or Patron.
Field: The field in the selected record type by which the system sorts the notices (e.g., Hold).
Double click on the box under Type to bring up the Select Me box. For this example, we are going to use the Type of Item. Click on Item, and click the OK button.
Next, we are going to double click on the box under Field to bring up the Select Me box again. This time, we are going to pick the Variable Field of Hold. Click Save and click the OK button.
This will change the information on the button to Sorted By HOLD. Next, we will review the Select Template button. If you do not want to use a template, skip to step 15.
Click on the Select Template button to add a Print Template. If you do not have a Print Template in your preferred templates, you will see everyone’s print templates. Contact the User Services Manager or ILS Administrator to have a print template created for your library. If you see your template, highlight it and click Select. If you want to use a Print template, but your Select Template button is grayed out, contact Marmot.
The Select Template button will be renamed to include the print template name.
Click the Save icon. This will bring up the Select Form Printer box to set up the printer for your Hold Pickup Only notice. The Sierra Printer Setup explains more about the Local and E-mail Printer options.
For this example, we are going to pick the E-mail Printer option. Once the prompts are followed to add an email address, we will get the Save Job As? box. It is best to do a naming convention that includes your library name or your 2 or 3-letter library code, and the name of the notice. If you run your notices manually, you could also include how many times to run the notice in the Job Name (i.e. EVG Hold Pickup Only Notice 1x a day). If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
This will put the Job Name at the top. Click the Close icon.
The newly created notice will show up in the Notices for your library or library branch. The Notice Type will show as Hold Pickup Only.
INN-Reach Paging Slips Notice (Prospector Libraries Only)
Sierra enables a special paging slip for an item requested via INN‐Reach circulation.
Sierra enables you to print a special paging slip for an item requested via INN-Reach circulation.
INN-Reach paging slip prints for each item paged at an owning site, which can include items currently checked out to another patron.
The owning site obtains data for INN-Reach paging slips from the real item record and the virtual patron record.
The INN-Reach paging slips contain one-paged item per slip, unlike the INN-Reach paging lists, which contain information on all of the INN-Reach items being paged at your library.
Prospector prefers the INN-Reach Paging Slips to be used.
Creating INN-Reach Paging Slip Notice
Go to Notices from the Sierra Function menu.
Click on the New icon.
The New Job box will appear. The Notice Type always defaults to Overdue. Under Locations will be your library or library branch. Note: Make sure to not change from your library location to All. This would send out notices to all the Marmot libraries.
Use the Notice Type drop-down menu to change from Overdue to INN-Reach Paging Slip.
You may want to sort the INN-Reach Paging Slip notice. Click on the Sort By button.
This will bring up the Sort Notices box. To sort the order in which the notices are generated, click Sort By.
The system displays the Sort Notices table, which consists of three columns:
Line: The order in which the entry is applied. In other words, the system sorts the notices by the entry in Line 1 and then sub sorts them by the entry in Line 2.
Type: The record type that contains the field by which the system sorts the notices. You can choose fields from three record types: Bibliographic, Item, or Patron.
Field: The field in the selected record type by which the system sorts the notices (e.g., Location or Call #).
Double click on the box under Type to bring up the Select Me box. For this example, we are going to use the Type of Item. Click on Item, and click the OK button.
Next, we are going to double click on the box under Field to bring up the Select Me box again. This time, we are going to pick the Fixed Field of Location. This will sort the notices in alphabetical order by the location of each item.
We are going to add a second line to this sort. Click on the Append button to add a second line.
We would repeat steps 7 & 8 to add the Type of Item, and Variable Field of Call #. This would sort the list first by location and next by the item call # for each of those locations. Click the Save button.
This will change the information on the button to Sorted By Location, Call#. Next, we will review the Select Template button. If you do not want to use a template, skip to step 14.
Click on the Select Template button to add a Print Template. If you do not have a Print Template in your preferred templates, you will see everyone’s print templates. Contact the User Services Manager or ILS Administrator to have a print template created for your library. If you see your template, highlight it and click Select. If you want to use a Print template, but your Select Template button is grayed out, contact Marmot.
The Select Template button will be renamed to include the print template name.
Click the Save icon. This will bring up the Select Form Printer box to set up the printer for your INN-Reach Paging Slips notice. The Sierra Printer Setup explains more about the Local and E-mail Printer options.
For this example, we are going to pick the E-mail Printer option. Once the prompts are followed to add an email address, we will get the Save Job As? box. It is best to do a naming convention that includes your library name or your 2 or 3-letter library code, and the name of the notice. If you run your notices manually, you could also include how many times to run the notice in the Job Name (i.e. EVG INN-Reach Paging Slips 1x a day). You could also use Bib instead of Title. If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
This will put the Job Name at the top. Click the Close icon.
The newly created notice will show up in the Notices for your library or library branch. The notice drop-down was for Title Paging Lists, but the Notice Type is INN-Reach Paging Slips. This change is made within the system.
When you run the notices and send them it will automatically clear them unless you check the box next to the send button to prevent them from clearing. Once they are sent and cleared there is no method to get them back. However, usually with Prospector items if they are not filled on the day you run the report and clear it, they should repopulate in the notice jobs the next morning.
Item Paging Slip Notice (Run Daily)
Sierra enables you to print a paging slip for an item requested. By default, Sierra prints one item paging slip for each paged item. If several items are requested from the same location, the system generates a separate item paging slip for each item. According to the Patron Placed Holds (PPH) Best Practices document, the Item Paging Slips should be run daily at the same time as the Title Paging Slips. It is up to the participating library how many times a day these notices are run.
Pull the requested items from the shelf and scan the item barcodes using the Check-In (No Patron) function of Sierra. At this point, the screen will give the choices of:
“Fulfill hold” OR “Check in, do not fulfill hold” (this option can be used for items that are in disrepair, non-circulating, or have other issues.
ALWAYS scan the item, even if the item is non-circulating. This way, the next library owning the item will get an item or title page slip.
Read the screen to make sure the item is properly routed.
Never Cancel Holds from this screen unless the print hold cancellation notice option is chosen. Otherwise canceling a hold will cause the marmot patron to lose their hold on the item without warning. (This proceslibrary’s 2 or 3 letter code and the name of the notice. If you run your notices manually, you could also include how many times to run the notice in the Job Name (i.e. EVG Item Paging Slips 1x a day). You could also use Bib instead of Title. If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
This will put the Job Name at the top. Click the Close icon.
The newly created notice will show up in the Notices for your library or library branch. The notice drop-down was for Title Paging Lists, but the Notice Type is Item Paging Slips. This change is made within the system.
Overdue Notice
Each night the system scans the file of checked‐out items and generates overdue notices for items in the file that have become eligible for a notice since the last time overdue notices were sent. According to the PPH Best Practices document, Library staff should ONLY contact LOCAL patrons concerning items they have borrowed. Library staff from lending/borrowing libraries should never contact patrons from other member libraries directly. Overdue Notices are sent to all patrons via email or USPS, Marmot-wide. It is suggested that all libraries utilize the automatic email notification option in Sierra. Fines are assessed by the patron’s home library based on the patron’s home library’s loan rules. Notices are generated by the patron’s home library.
The system produces overdue notices based on the intervals between notices, not on the amount of time that has passed since the item's due date.
Because the system tracks when the last overdue notice was sent to each patron, it is able to preserve the interval specified in the overdue variables of the applicable loan rule, even when the library does not print notices for a longer period of time than usual (such as a break or vacation).
Overdue Variables
Max Number of Overdues - the system sends the number of overdue notices decided by a library.
First Overdue Notice – this is the first overdue notice the patron will receive if they have not returned or renewed an item. This is generally sent 5 to 7 days after the item’s due date.
Second Overdue Notice- This is the second overdue notice a patron will receive if they have not renewed or returned an item. A library decides how many days after the first notice a patron will receive a second overdue notice. Some libraries may only send two notices.
Third Overdue Notice or Final Notice - This is the third overdue notice a patron will receive if they have not renewed or returned an item. A library decides how many days from the second notice a patron will receive a third overdue notice. Sometimes libraries may only give three notices, and this would be the final notice that patrons receive, or a notice they receive before getting a bill, or a notice they receive before an item goes to collection.
Fourth Overdue Notice of Bill Notice – This notice can sometimes be a bill or the last overdue notice a patron receives for lost materials. The library decides how many days from the third notice a patron will receive the fourth notice.
Creating an Overdue Notice
Go to Notices from the Sierra Function menu.
Click on the New icon.
The New Job box will appear. The Notice Type always defaults to Overdue. Under Locations will be your library or library branch. Note: Make sure to not change from your library location to All. This would send out notices to all the Marmot libraries.
Keep the Notice Type as the default Overdue.
Note: if a multi-branch library would only like to have one person or library send out the Overdue notice, the Location Served can be set to the main location code for those libraries.
Click on the Email Subject (Default) button to change what your patrons will see as an email subject line when receiving a notice. See Sierra Changing the email subject line for notices for more information on how to change the email subject for existing notices.
Once you click on the Email Subject (Default) button, the Email Subject box will appear. Click on the 10.Overdue Notices line. Click OK.
The Email Subject button will change from Email Subject (Default) to Email Subject (10).
When you prepare overdue notices, you can choose which "level" of overdue notices you want to generate. However, in choosing a level, you will need to create multiple overdue notices. Instead, libraries leave the Overdue level as the default of “All Levels.” Next, we will review the Select Template button. If you do not want to use a template, skip to step 11.
Click on the Select Template button to add a Print Template. If you do not have a Print Template in your preferred templates, you will see everyone’s print templates. Contact the User Services Manager or ILS Administrator to have a print template created for your library. If you see your template, highlight it and click Select. If you want to use a Print template, but your Select Template button is grayed out, contact Marmot.
The Select Template button will be renamed to include the print template name.
Note: Some school libraries may want to print the overdue notices to give to their teachers. Use the Sort By to separate the notices.
Here are some suggested Sort By fields. When the notices are printed, it sorts them so librarians can give them to the teachers.
Click the Save icon. This will bring up the Select Form Printer box to set up the printer for your Overdue notice. The Sierra Printer Setup explains more about the Local and E-mail Printer options.
For this example, we are going to pick the E-mail Printer option. Once the prompts are followed to add an email address, we will get the Save Job As? box. It is best to do a naming convention that includes your library name or your 2 or 3-letter library code, and the name of the notice. If you run your notices manually, you could also include how many times to run the notice in the Job Name (i.e. EVG Overdue Notice 1x a day). If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
This will put the Job Name at the top. Click the Close icon.
The newly created notice will show up in the Notices for your library or library branch. The Notice Type will show as Overdue.
Notices Specific to Certain Library
Statement of Charges Notice (Fines & Bills)
A statement summarizing all outstanding fees owed by a patron. It can also be used to resend billing notices to patrons. Any library can create and generate this type of notice. The statement of charges for fines notice is generally used by schools to give a list of fines to either the student or the parent. The statement of charges for bills can be used by any library.
This notice can be sent out at the end of the semester or quarter.
Since this is a shared system, it can take the system a long time to generate these statements.
Statements of charges list unpaid fines only. Generating these statements does not affect the database.
If you choose to generate statements for a single branch location or Locations Served, the statement includes fines associated with those location(s) only.
The system uses different criteria for different charge types to determine whether the notice belongs to the selected location:
For manual fines, the location must match the location selected by staff when adding the fine to the patron's record.
For all other charge types, the LOCATION fixed-length field in the fined item must match the selected location.
Creating a Statement of Charges Notice for Fines
Go to Notices from the Sierra Function menu.
Click on the New icon.
The New Job box will appear. The Notice Type always defaults to Overdue. Under Locations will be your library or library branch. Note: Make sure to not change from your library location to All. This would send out notices to all the Marmot libraries.
Use the Notice Type drop-down menu to change from Overdue to Statement of Charges.
Note: if a multi-branch library would only like to have one person or library send out the Statement of Charges notice, the Location Served can be set to the main location code for those libraries.
Click on the Email Subject (Default) button to change what your patrons will see as an email subject line when receiving a notice. See Sierra Changing the email subject line for notices for more information on how to change the email subject for existing notices.
Once you click on the Email Subject (Default) button, the Email Subject box will appear. Click on the 7. Statement of Charges–Library line. Click OK.
The Email Subject button will change from Email Subject (Default) to Email Subject (7). Next, we will review the Select Template button for libraries that want to print the notices. If you do not want to use a template, skip to step 10.
Click on the Select Template button to add a Print Template. If you do not have a Print Template in your preferred templates, you will see everyone’s print templates. Contact the User Services Manager or ILS Administrator to have a print template created for your library. If you see your template, highlight it and click Select. If you want to use a Print template, but your Select Template button is grayed out, contact Marmot.
The Select Template button will be renamed to include the print template name.
Note: The school libraries that print their Statement of Charges notices may want to use the Sort By to separate the notices.
Here are some suggested Sort By fields. When the notices are printed, it sorts them so librarians can give them to the teachers.
Under Options, a Range or Review file can be used.
If the Range option is chosen, it will limit to all the patrons for the location used for this notice. If you want to limit to just one or a few patron types, click on the Limit by P TYPE button. Click on one of the P Types you would like to use, and hold the CTRL key to highlight others. Click Save.
The Charges Incurred and Amount Owed can also be used to limit what patrons will receive this notice. The Change Address is set to use the address 1 field listed in the patron’s record. This could be changed to display the address 2 field listed in the patron’s record instead.
If the Review option is chosen, it will bring up a drop-down menu to display all the patron review files available in Create Lists. You can always create a review file of your patrons who owe money to use for this process.
Once the Options section is completed, click the Save icon. This will bring up the Select Form Printer box to set up the printer for your Statement of Charges notice. The Sierra Printer Setup explains more about the Local and E-mail Printer options.
For this example, we are going to pick the E-mail Printer option. Once the prompts are followed to add an email address, we will get the Save Job As? box. It is best to do a naming convention that includes your library 2 or 3 letter code and the name of the notice (i.e. EVG Statement of Charges-Fines). If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
This will put the Job Name at the top. Click the Close icon.
The newly created notice will show up in the Notices for your library or library branch. The Notice Type will show as a Statement of Charges-Fines.
Creating a Statement of Charges Notice for Bills
Create a review file with the patrons who have billed items. In order to create a review file for billed items for the Statement of Charges, you can only use a Patron review file.
Go to Notices from the Sierra Function menu.
Click on the New icon.
The New Job box will appear. The Notice Type always defaults to Overdue. Under Locations will be your library or library branch. Note: Make sure to not change from your library location to All. This would send out notices to all the Marmot libraries.
Use the Notice Type drop-down menu to change from Overdue to Statement of Charges.
Note: if a multi-branch library would only like to have one person or library send out the Statement of Charges notice, the Location Served can be set to the main location code for those libraries.
Click on the Email Subject (Default) button to change what your patrons will see as an email subject line when receiving a notice. See Sierra Changing the email subject line for notices for more information on how to change the email subject for existing notices.
Once you click on the Email Subject (Default) button, the Email Subject box will appear. Click on the 4. Billing Notice--Library materials line. Click OK.
The Email Subject button will change from Email Subject (Default) to Email Subject (4). Next, we will review the Select Template button for libraries that want to print the notices. If you do not want to use a template, skip to step 11.
Click on the Select Template button to add a Print Template. If you do not have a Print Template in your preferred templates, you will see everyone’s print templates. Contact the User Services Manager or ILS Administrator to have a print template created for your library. If you see your template, highlight it and click Select. If you want to use a Print template, but your Select Template button is grayed out, contact Marmot.
The Select Template button will be renamed to include the print template name.
Under Options choose Review from the drop-down. Use the drop-down menu to find your library’s review file for patrons with billed items that you created from step 1. The Include Amount Owed is not necessary for this notice, and using it will duplicate the information with how much money a patron owes in the email or print notice they receive.
Once the Options section is completed, click the Save icon. This will bring up the Select Form Printer box to set up the printer for your Statement of Charges notice. The Sierra Printer Setup explains more about the Local and E-mail Printer options.
For this example, we are going to pick the E-mail Printer option. Once the prompts are followed to add an email address, we will get the Save Job As? box. It is best to do a naming convention that includes your library name or your 2 or 3-letter library code, and the name of the notice (i.e. EVG Statement of Charges - Bills). If you have branches, you should include that information as well. You cannot save the selected parameters until you choose a Job Name. When finished with the Job Name, click OK.
