The school year is off to a great start, and books are flying off the shelves into student hands. Everyone starts the year with good intentions, but remembering to turn library books in on time might fall off the to-do list. As a school librarian, managing library materials is a time-consuming but essential task you tackle each day. Make keeping track of materials easier for you and your students by using your library services platform (LSP) reports. If you are automated with INFOhio, librarians have access to a variety of circulation reports. These reports help keep track of the collection, manage loans, and communicate effectively with students and their families. If you are using another LSP, check with their customer support to see if they have similar reports that can be used for circulation purposes. Read on for helpful tips to create circulation reports like overdue lists, overdue notices, active loans lists, and notices for items due tomorrow.

To access helpful guides for the circulation reports mentioned throughout this blog, check out INFOhio’s Library Services Handbook. The Library Services Handbook contains many guides, tip sheets, videos, and other helpful information on all of INFOhio’s LSP products. Find the guides for circulation reports in the Report Favorites section of the Handbook. Look for Circulation Reports. Below are short summaries of the most popular reports, with additional ideas for how they might be used.

Overdue Lists

Overdue lists for personal or teacher use are helpful for maintaining the library collection and ensuring that materials are returned in a timely manner. Overdue lists are informational reports that can be used to encourage students to remember to return or renew their school library books. An overdue list could be used in a number of ways:

• Schedule an overdue list to run at the beginning of each day to have a better idea of what is due that day.
• Schedule the overdue list to run at the beginning of each period so you can ask students about long overdue materials.
• Send the overdue list to the teacher and partner with them in tracking down materials that may be in lockers, desks, or bookbags.
• Use an overdue list at the end of the year to see which class returns all their books first and provide a reward for the winner. Competition can encourage some students like no overdue notice ever will.
• Create separate overdue lists for students and school staff. 
• Save the report as a template so you don’t have to remember how the report was created each time and run as needed.

The CIR - Overdue Lists report found in INFOhio’s Library Services Handbook serves as a template for a brief list of overdues. The report shows just enough information to keep you and the teacher informed about which students have overdue books, and if they have been billed, the amount due.

Overdue Notices

Once you have an overdue list for informational purposes, the next step can be to communicate with your students and their families about their overdue items. Notices can be sent weekly, monthly, or once per quarter or semester. Notices can be printed on paper and handed to students or emailed if your LSP software contains email addresses in the student data. Consider creating a customized message to include in the notice. Prior to sending out notices make sure to have policies in place for lost or damaged items. Hopefully, long overdue or lost items will be returned, but some may want to pay to replace the book. Some may even offer to replace their lost item with a book they buy themselves. It may be necessary to discuss with school administrators what will happen if students cannot pay for or replace an item they have lost or damaged while in their possession.

The CIR - Overdue Standard Notice creates a notice that can be shared with students and their families. If printing, the notice can be formatted with two notices per page which cuts down on paper usage. A notice can also be emailed to the email addresses on file in the LSP software. The handbook includes instructions for both emailing all students and emailing specific students, depending on your needs. The handbook also includes a number of helpful videos on how to set up overdue notices under the CIR- Overdues & Notices topic.

Active Loans Lists

Active loans lists help to keep track of all currently checked-out items. This could include both currently checked out items and those overdue. An active loans list could also be shared with teachers to help keep students accountable for the materials they have checked out from the library.

Using the CIR - Active Loans report, librarians can create a list of all items checked out, including overdues. The report can be run for all students and sorted by homeroom, teacher, or grade. It can also be run for a specific grade or homeroom only. There are many ways this report can be customized to best serve you. 

Items Due Tomorrow

The report CIR - Items Due Tomorrow helps to anticipate returns and prepare for the next day's circulation activities. Using the User and Checkout Selection tabs found in INFOhio’s LSP software, librarians can limit the report to show only students who have items due tomorrow. These report settings can be applied to the overdue notices which could then be emailed to the student prior to the student’s library day. This report could also be shared with teachers who will have students coming to the library the next day. 

When running Circulation reports, be consistent and run the reports at regular intervals so students know what to expect. If a report can be customized, take advantage of personalizing the message being shared. Students and their parents will know you care with a few kind words and can be assured of some grace if something does happen to materials checked out from the library. Check your LSP to see if reports can be scheduled to take the load of creating and sending out report results. Also, keep in mind the privacy surrounding checkout information. Talk with your administration if there is any concern. 

The circulation reports shared in this blog represent a small portion of the reports that are available so take some time to explore the Library Services Handbook’s INFOhio Reports and Report Favorites sections for additional ideas. By running and using circulation reports regularly, your collection will stay up-to-date and running smoothly. Students and their families will stay informed and will develop a responsibility for the library materials they use. Questions about any of the reports shared in this blog? Please reach out to your regional ITC’s Library Support Staff for assistance. INFOhio is also here to help and can be reached at support.infohio.org.

Happy reporting!