Filtering and sorting the overdue report 
using patron attributes

Original author: Daniel Sweeney daniel.sweeney@liblime.com

Feature sponsored by the Plano Independent School District

Libraries want to be able to generate the items overdue report filtered, sorted and grouped using patron attributes. The specific libraries asking for this change are using patron attributes to contain the homeroom and grade of each patron, and need to use the report as groups from particular homerooms come to the library to catch students who have overdue materials. The libraries also want to use the “show any items currently issued” feature of the report to send a report to teachers of all items out to patrons in a specific homeroom so the teacher can ensure the patrons have the items to return.

1. A new Boolean system preference will be added, “FilterBeforeOverdueReport.” This preference will be in the circulation area.
2. By default this preference will be “Off.”

1. If the “FilterBeforeOverdueReport” preference is “On” then when a staff member clicks the “Overdues” link in Circulation, the report will not run until after the staff member chooses one or more filters and chooses “Apply Filter.” The user interface for the page will be the same, except that instead of the table of overdue items under “Items Overdue” the page will read “Please choose one or more filters to proceed.”
2. If the “FilterBeforeOverdueReport” preference is “Off” then the overdue report will behave as it currently does, running all the overdues before the staff member applies a filter.

1. On the overdue report, all searchable patron attributes will be added to the list of filters that can be applied to the report. Only attributes that are marked as searchable will be available for filtering.
2. Staff will be able to filter attributes that are linked to authorized values using a list of the allowed values for the attribute.
3. Staff will be able to filter free-text attributes using a text field.
4. If an attribute is repeatable, it will be possible to add more than one value to filter by, using “add’ and “delete” buttons in the filtering area.

1. On the overdue report, it will be possible to sort the report using the searchable attributes, both ascending and descending.

1. The overdue report will display searchable attributes on the overdue report. Each searchable attribute will be a distinct column in the report.
2. For attributes that have multiple values, each attribute will appear in the appropriate column on the report, separated by commas.

1. If a staff member uses multiple filters of different types (including different types of attributes) overdue transactions will display that meet all of the filter criteria. This is consistent with earlier versions of the report.
2. If a staff member filters the report using one or more attributes of the same type, the report will display transactions for patrons who have any of the attributes of those types (and all of the other filter criteria.)

1. When a staff member filters the report with the “Show any items currently issued” checkbox checked, all active loans that meet the other filter criteria will display. This is consistent with previous releases.

1. The overdue report will print in landscape mode, in order to ensure that the new attribute columns have enough room to fit on the page.