Loans, due dates & renewals
How borrowing works end to end — due dates, renewals, overdues and returns.
Borrowing a toy
A loan starts when a toy is checked out to a household. The due date comes from the household's membership type — its loan period (e.g. 21 days) added to today, in your library's timezone. The due date is inclusive: a toy "due the 28th" is fine to return on the 28th. How many toys a household may have out at once is the type's max concurrent loans.
Renewals
A renewal extends a loan by another loan period. Each membership type sets a max renewals (0 = none). Members can renew from their portal up to that limit; staff can renew for them and, with permission, override it.
One exception: if another member has placed a hold on that toy and you've enabled block renewals while reserved, the renewal is refused so the next person isn't kept waiting — staff can still override. See Holds & reservations.
Overdue toys
Past the due date, a loan is overdue: the system sends reminders and surfaces it on the returns worklist. Loans overdue beyond the unrecoverable threshold (a library setting) move to a separate follow-up list. Overdue and damage fees are configured separately — see Fees & payments.
Returns
At return, staff record the toy's condition and any missing pieces before it goes back on the shelf. If someone is waiting on a hold, returning a copy notifies the next person in line.
The desk is family-first: scan or search a member and all their loans come up pre-selected — untick any they're keeping, then return the rest in one go. You can also just scan a single toy to return it on its own.
Counting pieces later — the counting queue
Counting a toy's pieces and processing the return are separable. On a busy day one volunteer can take returns at the front while another counts at a table. When you return a toy with pieces you can either count it inline ("all pieces ✓", or tick what's missing) or choose "return only — count later" — the toy goes straight back on the shelf and joins the counting queue. Returning without counting needs no special permission, so a returns-only volunteer can always finish a return.
The queue (Loans → counting) lists the uncounted toys oldest-first with who returned each and from which household — useful context if a piece turns up missing. Opening an item marks it being counted by you so two people don't double-count. Completing a count (clean or with missing pieces) records the same check as counting inline and clears it from the queue. Toys left uncounted simply carry over to the next session, and lending an uncounted copy shows a non-blocking heads-up. Counting itself needs the return-check permission.