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Activities, Notices, and Reports Descriptions - By Frequency

Daily Activities

Patron notices are available each morning to be printed from the notices webpage. You can log in with your library’s van code and password. (Please call the OWLS office if you don’t know the password.) The notices will remain on that page for one week before being automatically deleted.

Notices include:

  • Hold pickup notices (Generated every day. If you mail these, print Sat -Mon notices on Monday)
    • Notice comes from the pickup branch
  • Hold cancellation notices (Generated M-F each day open)
    • Notice comes from the patron’s preferred branch
  • Overdue notices (Generated M-F each day open)
    • Notice comes from the patron’s preferred branch
  • Bills (Generated as items enter billing cycle)
    • Notice comes from the owning library

​Many libraries choose not to mail some or all notices. Feel free to follow your local procedures. OWLS recommends that all libraries print and mail bills, once they’ve verified the price using the Search Shelves Before Billing Report.

Notices should be printed once a day.

Notice Schedule:

  • -1 day: Courtesy Notice sent (email and text notice only)
  • 3 days: 1st Overdue Notice sent
  • 6 days: 2nd Overdue Notice sent
  • 21 days: Search Shelves posted
  • 28 days: Bills posted
  • 45 days: Selected patrons sent to collections

Patron emails from the online catalog, patron replies to automated notices, book club holds and emailed reports are all sent to the general library email accounts. Some libraries also use these accounts for a public contact point on the library’s website.

Because these emails often require a timely response, these accounts should be checked every day. (OWLSnet also offers personal accounts.)

This process is used to send items to other libraries and fill holds for other patrons. Please clear the holdshelf as part of your morning procedures, so items moving on will be ready for delivery by the time the van arrives. Clearing the holdshelf must be done Monday through Friday each day your library is open, but OWLS recommends that it be done on weekend days when you are open as well. Printable directions may be found here.

There are 3 steps:

  1. Run Expired Holds Report – 80 AND Cancelled Holds Report – 81 (optional if using pull dates on the hold slips)
  2. Pull expired Holds from Hold Shelf
  3. Scan pulled holds through Returns/Check In, 1 by 1, to Activate Next Hold

Run Expired/Cancelled Holds Reports

  • Along the top menu, choose Reports > Circulation > 80 Hold Expired List
  • If your library is not highlighted under the Parameter Set, choose it from the dropdown menu
  • To check parameters, click “View/Edit Parameters to see if your location is the default
  • Click “Run”
  • When the report is finished running, you will see it appear in the “Transfer from Server” list
  • Highlight your report and click “Transfer.” This will move it to “Available Copies” on the right
  • Highlight the report in “Available Copies” and click “View”
  • To print this list, click the print icon in the report that opens

Scan Pulled Holds Through Returns/Check In to Activate Next Hold

  • Go to Return in CARL•X
  • Scan the barcodes
  • Click “Activate Next Hold” when a big, red box appears that says “Item Should Be On Holdshelf” to send it into transit or place it on the hold shelf

Paging lists are available in both CARLX as Router and CARL Connect as Fill List. Documentation for paging lists can be found here.

Title, issue, and item paging lists should be printed at least every day, but OWLS recommends that the title paging list be printed twice a day.

This report displays information on outstanding Title, Issue, and Item holds. These are holds yet to be filled for patrons. The report based on Transaction Date, where holds placed on or before that date will be displayed, and Branch, which corresponds to the pickup branch. A printable form of these directions can be found here.

  1. In the CARL-X Staff client, navigate to Reports > Circulation > 46 – Unfilled Holds.
  2. In the Parameter Set dropdown menu, choose your library.
  3. Click View/Edit Parameters.
  4. Choose the transaction date you wish to use. A transaction date of today will show holds that are unfilled before today’s date.
  5. Make sure your branch is highlighted.
  6. Save.
  7. Run.
  8. Once the report is done running, highlight your report in the “Transfer from Server” side of the window and click Transfer.
  9. Highlight your report in the “Available Copies” side of the window and click View. You can also double-click.
    1. An Excel spreadsheet will open up. You may need to click “Enable Content” for your data to populate.
    2. Go to the “Expired List” sheet.

This report is emailed every day from the OWLS office to the OWLSnet Libs email list. It includes items that will be billed soon. Time to bill varies, but is at least five working days from the date of the report.

Please check your shelves for these items and check them in if found. Also, please verify that the price listed in the item record is the correct price to be charged to the patron.

The email will contain an Excel spreadsheet. To narrow it down to your library’s items in Excel, click Data, then click Filter. Each of the column headings will now have a dropdown arrow. Click the down arrow next to “Library,” uncheck “Select All,” and select your library. I have pre-sorted the list by location and then by call number.

This report displays counts of various transaction activities, such as charges, renewals, holds filled, fine payments, and patron registration. The report output can be limited by the type of transaction, the library where the transaction occurred, and a date range in which the transaction occurred.

These numbers will not match those circulation statistics intended for the state annual report. These statistics are only intended for measuring activity at the library. Printable instructions can be found here.

To run this report:

  1. In the CARL-X client, go to Reports > Circulation > 42 – Daily Statistics.
  2. From the Parameter Set, choose your library.
  3. Click View/Edit Parameters.
  4. Select a begin and end date for the report.
  5. Choose the Transaction Type. To select more than one option, use Ctrl + Click.
  6. Make sure your Branch Code is correct.
  7. Save.
  8. Run.
  9. When the report has finished running, highlight the report on the Transfer from Server side of the window and click Transfer.
  10. Highlight the report in the Available Copies column and click View. You can also double-click.
  11. An Excel document will open.