[Koha] Looking for co-sponsorship for a small overdues reporting enhancement - (overdue calls list)

[Rich Boulet]

Hello:

Our overdues procedure is probably fairly similar to other libraries.  Our
Koha system sends out a first, second, and third letter at specified
intervals.  After that we begin a manual process that escalates through
various steps.  Before we get to a certain point, we want to start calling
severely delinquent patrons on the phone, in hopes that a personal call will
get a better response.  So we need to be able to easily generate an overdues
call list.

To that end we approached our support vendor, Equinox, for some enhancement
work to create a new customized overdues report (see
http://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=8053).  I am hoping
to find one or two cosponsors for this small project.  

Rough Description:
The end product would create a new report that would be linked from the circ
menu page.  It would produce an overdue list and function similarly to the
‘holds to pull’ report.
It will open within the Koha environment (i.e. not exported to a
spreadsheet) and will be sortable by column and limitable by date, also
similar to the current “Holds to Pull” report.  The report will be
printer-friendly (to the same extent that ‘holds to pull’ is).  Columns
would include: > Patron barcode> Last name> Firstname> Phone number > e-mail
address > Items list > Date Overdue since > Replacement cost > total Current
fines owed (on account).  It will be limitable to overdue issues that are at
least x weeks past their due date and no more than 12.  A date range could
also be manually entered by staff as in the current practice with HOLDS TO
PULL.  The end product would be made available for consideration in
mainstream community Koha.

If you are interested and would like more specific details about the
proposed development, you please contact me directly. The proposed
development cost isn't huge - just a little more than we can take on by
ourselves.  If you think your library could benefit from this enhancement,
and you would like to learn more about sharing costs, read the proposal
specifics, etc. please contact me directly.  It would be good to hear from
you soon as our proposal expires in 90 days.  

Your advice is welcome too.  Feel free to tell me if there is a better way
to drum up co-sponsorship.

Thanks for your time,

Rich Boulet
 




Richard Boulet
Library Director
Blue Hill Public Library
207.374.5515x13