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Loans, due dates & renewals

How borrowing works end to end — due dates, renewals, overdues and returns.

Borrowing a toy

A loan starts when a toy is checked out to a household. The due date comes from the household's membership type — its loan period (e.g. 21 days) added to today, in your library's timezone. The due date is inclusive: a toy "due the 28th" is fine to return on the 28th. How many toys a household may have out at once is the type's max concurrent loans.

Renewals

A renewal extends a loan by another loan period. Each membership type sets a max renewals (0 = none). Members can renew from their portal up to that limit; staff can renew for them and, with permission, override it.

One exception: if another member has placed a hold on that toy and you've enabled block renewals while reserved, the renewal is refused so the next person isn't kept waiting — staff can still override. See Holds & reservations.

Overdue toys

Past the due date, a loan is overdue: the system sends reminders and surfaces it on the returns worklist. Loans overdue beyond the unrecoverable threshold (a library setting) move to a separate follow-up list. Overdue and damage fees are configured separately — see Fees & payments.

Returns

At return, staff record the toy's condition and any missing pieces before it goes back on the shelf. If someone is waiting on a hold, returning a copy notifies the next person in line.