Library setup and usage

Library setup is short but order-dependent. The loan period, fine rate, grace days, per-student cap, and reservation hold length are read at the moment each loan or return is written, so a policy change never re-prices loans that are already open. Get the policy right before the first issue, and treat student self-request as the last switch you flip, because it is the only part of the module a learner can drive without a librarian in the room.

Setup workflow

1. Configure loan period, fines, and auto-fulfill at /settings/library.
2. Enable or disable student self-request and reservation-ready notifications.
3. Import or add catalog at /books and /libraries.
4. Train librarian on issue, reserve, fulfill, and return flows.

What each setting actually changes

Usage workflow

1. Librarian: search catalog → issue or place reservation → set due date.
2. Reservations tab: queue rank → fulfill (issues copy) or cancel.
3. Return: search active lending → mark returned or lost; overdue fine per settings.
4. Student: /my-library - browse, request/reserve, view active loans.

Where it goes wrong

• Skipping the reminder cron. Reservation expiry is in scripts/run-school-cron.sh but the due-reminder job is not, so without a separate schedule for POST /api/library/cron/reminders nothing is ever marked OVERDUE and no borrower is warned.
• Opening self-request before setting the cap. The default of three concurrent loans applies immediately, and the first thing families notice is a refusal they do not understand.
• Turning auto-fulfil on in a school with a single busy counter. The next reader is issued the book without being present, so the loan clock starts before they collect it.
• Marking a book lost to clear the desk. That permanently reduces total copies and charges the replacement value; use it only when the copy really is gone.
• Deleting a title with open loans instead of deactivating it. Deactivating blocks new issues while leaving history and fines intact.

Handoff to fees

A fine on a student borrower leaves the library module entirely. It becomes a one-time fee instance under fee type code LIB_FINE, due fourteen days later, created against the active academic year, with the student and their linked parents notified and pointed at /fees/me. The fee type and its structure are created on first use, so nobody has to prepare them. From that point the amount is a finance item: collection, receipts, and any waiver all happen in the fees module, and the library screens have no way to reverse it.