Returning books

Is there a way to add the patron box to the returned book page?

>1 FTNGREENLIBRARY: Not sure what you mean by "add the patron box." Can you say a little more about what you're trying to do here?

When you check books back in there is no place to put the patron/barcode in. When we do it without that information, it always comes up with a box that says, "You are returning an item/s with an empty patron name. Continue?" Is there a way to put that" patron/barcode" box onto the "returned" book screen like it is on the check out screen?

>3 FTNGREENLIBRARY: Are you doing this from the check in/out page on TinyCat? Can you give us a specific example of a book that's shown this issue? We'll need more details to test and investigate this issue.

In theory, that message seems to be indicating that the item was checked out without a patron name, or perhaps to a patron that was since deleted from your records. There's no way to add a patron name to a returned status, because that information should be implied by who it was checked out to in the first place.

>3 FTNGREENLIBRARY: >4 lorannen: is correct. When returning an item, the book is marked as returned under the patron who checked that book out in the first place. If you didn't mark a patron when checking the book out, you will see the "empty patron name" message upon returning the book.

If you can give us a couple of specific examples, we can make sure things are working as they should. If there was indeed no patron marked upon checkout for the example/s you offer, can you clarify if this was done by mistake or if you only want to mark the patron when they return a book? I want to make sure I understand how you want to check books in/out before proceeding.*

*(Perhaps we should add a UI for the admin to add/edit the patron information for "Returned" statuses, but I'd have to discuss this with developers. I don't know if it's a very common thing to have in place.)

The books are checked out with a patron name, and we can look up the patron and see the full title and information for the books they have checked out. It is only upon returning books via https://www.librarycat.org/admin/checkinout that no patron comes up when scanning in a book for return. There is a box when checking out books to enter the patron barcode but when returning books there is not one on the page.

>6 FTNGREENLIBRARY: Returns aren't given a spot to enter patron information because the return is simply marked with the previous checkout (so long as that was the last lending transaction applied to the item), which should have the patron information. The return gets marked under the patron who checked the book out (again, so long as this was entered into TinyCat and is the last status on the book—which, logically, it should be).

If you can give us a couple of specific examples of books where you're seeing this occur (feel free to email us at tinycat@librarything.com, if you want to give us specific patron information), we can make sure things are working as they should.