Setting a Force Return Date

Setting a force return date can be used to automatically override the return date of a resource. This is useful in situations where you want all books to be returned before to a certain date (usually prior to a holiday). For example, let's assume that we have the following week closed on the calendar

You might want to set a force return on one of the days before the holiday (the 3rd for instance) so that borrowers do not have a prolonged loan period. This is common in secondary schools, where pupils will not be returning after the holiday.

·To set a force return date, open the calendar from Tools / Calendar...

·The Calendar interface will display

·To create a force return day, firstly select Force Return from the menu at the top left

·Click the day you wish to enforce the force return on. The Force Return box will open as shown below

·You can use the grid to apply the force return to certain year groups and resource types. To apply the force return to any resource of type 'book', click the year group(s) to apply this to under the book column. An example of this is shown below, this force return will affect all year groups

·Use the Force All, Force None and Invert buttons to help customise the force return

·Click OK when you are happy with the settings to return to the calendar view

·Notice now that the force return is show as pink on the day that was selected

·Click OK to save the changes

When you create a force return on the calendar, it only takes effect when this day would be exceeded. For example, assuming we issued a book on the 1st April for a week, the force return date override the loan period and set the resource for return on the 3rd April.

The return dates are not retrospectively updated when you make changes to the calendar. They are only adjusted on new loans from this point forward. You may also need to restart Circulate before these changes take effect.