Controlling Loan and Reservation Length

There are a few ways to control or limit the length of loans and reservations. The best way is to use:

Settings > Inventory > Item Default Values

to set the following fields:

• Maximum Reservation Length: You can set a maximum reservation length for "All Items" (upper right corner on the Item Type Defaults page) or set different values for different types of items by selecting the Item Type then continue at the bottom of the page. Scroll to the Maximum Reservation Length field and enter the maximum number of days an item can be reserved, then save. (Information about this option and more can be found at Enabling & Configuring Reservations.)
  • The Maximum Reservation Length must be set using Item Default Values. This is because all items in a grouping (e.g. copies of the "same" item) must have the same maximum reservation length so they can be used interchangeably.
  • Important: we strongly recommend the Maximum Reservation Length be greater than or equal to the Default Loan Length and the Minimum Reservation Length.

• Minimum Reservation Length (NEW!)
  You can also set a minimum number of days that an item must be reserved. This works similarly to the Maximum Reservation Length and can be set for all items or by item type.

  • If the Minimum Reservation Length is set higher than the maximum, the system will automatically make them equal.

  • If the Minimum Reservation Length equals the maximum, and the reservation end date would fall on a closed day for your organization, then the user will not be able to select that start date at all.

• Default Loan Length: this truly is a "default" loan length that is used in a few places:
  • Ad-hoc check out and renewal: when an admin checks items out to users without a reservation, this will be used to set the Due Date for each item.
  • Default to/return date on reservations: when using the option to set the Reservation setting to automatically set the due date based on default loan length
  • Self-renew: it is used as one of the fields to limit how long a self-renewal of a loan can be
  • Note: the default loan length can also be overridden or set on each item by editing a specific item.
• Loan Length by Membership Type: we don't recommend using this option unless you have to, but you can also set the default loan length based on membership type (and there is an option to use this as the maximum too).

Examples

• Minimum = 3, Maximum = 7
  Users must reserve items for at least 3 days and no longer than 7 days.

  • A 2-day reservation will not be allowed.

  • A 5-day reservation will work.

• Minimum = 5, Maximum = 3
  If you accidentally set the minimum higher than the maximum, the system will automatically make them equal.

  • In this case both will be treated as 5.

• Minimum = 7, Maximum = 7
  Reservations must be exactly 7 days long.

  • If the 7th day is a closed day for the organization, that start date will not be selectable.

• Minimum = 1, Maximum = 30
  Users can reserve items for anywhere between 1 and 30 days.