Re: [CODE4LIB] Notifications for short term loans

[R. C. Miessler]

We're a III shop, but we run a PHP script that queries the database server for 
hourly items coming up due, and then sends the results to the Twilio service 
which handles the text message processing.

https://github.com/rmiessle/sierra-sms

It's not a particularly elegant solution, but it works for us.

R.C. Miessler | Systems Librarian
Gettysburg College | Musselman Library
300 North Washington Street | Gettysburg, PA 17325
717-337-7020 | www.gettysburg.edu

-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily 
Lynema
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2016 2:30 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [CODE4LIB] Notifications for short term loans

We are a SirsiDynix Symphony library that loans a lot of equipment on short 
terms loans (usually 4 hours). We charge relatively a relatively high overdue 
fee each hour the item is late in order to encourage students to return high 
dollar equipment like MacBook Pros. However, the notification functionality in 
Symphony is not good at sending users timely notices that an item is coming due 
so that they can renew it before being charged a fee.
Generally users get a notice within the first hour after checkout providing the 
due date/time and an overdue the following morning if they haven't returned it.

We're wondering if anyone has developed a creative solution to this problem of 
timely notifications. We'd be interested in solutions that alerted a user to an 
upcoming due date, say maybe 15 - 30 minutes in advance, whether it be email, 
text message, or an app-based mobile notification. We've looked a bit at vendor 
provided mobile applications, but haven't found much yet in this area.

Let me know if you've developed a creative solution in-house or found a vendor 
that provides a relevant service. We could do this from scratch, but would love 
to build off some prior work or take advantage of other elegant solutions.

thanks!

--
Emily Lynema
Associate Department Head
Information Technology, NCSU Libraries
919-513-8031
emily_lyn...@ncsu.edu

[CODE4LIB] Notifications for short term loans

[Emily Lynema]

We are a SirsiDynix Symphony library that loans a lot of equipment on short
terms loans (usually 4 hours). We charge relatively a relatively high
overdue fee each hour the item is late in order to encourage students to
return high dollar equipment like MacBook Pros. However, the notification
functionality in Symphony is not good at sending users timely notices that
an item is coming due so that they can renew it before being charged a fee.
Generally users get a notice within the first hour after checkout providing
the due date/time and an overdue the following morning if they haven't
returned it.

We're wondering if anyone has developed a creative solution to this problem
of timely notifications. We'd be interested in solutions that alerted a
user to an upcoming due date, say maybe 15 - 30 minutes in advance, whether
it be email, text message, or an app-based mobile notification. We've
looked a bit at vendor provided mobile applications, but haven't found much
yet in this area.

Let me know if you've developed a creative solution in-house or found a
vendor that provides a relevant service. We could do this from scratch, but
would love to build off some prior work or take advantage of other elegant
solutions.

thanks!

-- 
Emily Lynema
Associate Department Head
Information Technology, NCSU Libraries
919-513-8031
emily_lyn...@ncsu.edu