Designing Overdue Notice Delivery

Two important administrative functions of the Corporate Media Library (CML) application ensure that titles are returned to the library and that titles are recalled when requests for them are pending. These functions create and send overdue notices and recall notices.

Overdue Notices

To keep the F & M library operating, overdue notices need to be sent to delinquent borrowers to request return of library materials. The process must be automatic but need not necessarily be a part of the CML application Web interface. The Stored Procedures and CML Stored Procedures topics describe how overdue notices are created and mailed to delinquent borrowers.

Design considerations for overdue notices are:

• The due date of an item is an administrator-defined interval from the date the library item was checked out. The administrator enters this information on the Application Settings Web page.
• It is acceptable that the CML overdue notice process deliver a hard-coded message, but it would be preferable to allow the administrator to attach a file in place of the coded message. The procedure could also be enhanced to use different attachments based on certain criteria, for example, day of the week.
• Mailing of overdue notices occurs on an administrator-defined schedule. Any borrower of a library item with a due date earlier than the date of the process receives an overdue notice.
• Overdue notices are delivered by e-mail.
• Overdue notices are repeated at administrator-defined intervals until the library item is returned to the library. The administrator enters this information on the Application Settings Web page.
• Overdue notice processing is a scheduled event.
• The application keeps track of the date of the last overdue notice for an item.
• All overdue notice messages are written to a log. This allows tracking of all the e-mail messages sent over time.

Recall Notices

The library administrator needs the ability to recall library items at any time. When a borrower submits a request for a title that has no copies available, the administrator needs to be able to run a process that creates and sends e-mail messages requesting that copies of the requested title be returned. The Stored Procedures topic describes how recall notices are created and mailed.

Design considerations for recall notices are:

• Recall notices use an administrator-defined interval from the date the library item is due to select the borrower who is asked to return library material.
• It is acceptable for the CML recall notice process to deliver a hard-coded message, but it would be preferable to allow the administrator to attach a file in place of the coded message. The procedure could also be enhanced to use different attachments based on certain criteria, for example, day of the week.
• Recall notices are delivered by e-mail.
• All recall notice messages are written to a log.

Note  Although recall notices were designed for the CML application, this feature was not completely implemented. See Known CML Issues for more information.