[Koha-devel] [Koha-patches] [PATCH] include grace period when calculating overdue fine

[Galen Charlton]

Hi,

On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 2:40 PM, Steve Wills<swills at beyond-print.com> wrote:
> no.  I think the grace period helps to determine when the fine is applied
> but not the amount of the fine.
> The fine_amount should be based on the duration between the due date and
> today. (due_date - today)
> the grace_end_date is grace_days after due_date. (due_date + grace_days)
> if today is less than or equal to grace_end_date, no fine.
> if today is after grace_end_date, fine_amount is charged as defined above.
> On a human note: I think that unless you are a meanie, it is human nature to
> try and give the patron a break, but strictly speaking, the grace period has
> nothing to do with the amount of the fine.  At our library, there is no
> grace period but fines are never collected! Bringing the book back is always
> "good enough".  LOL!

And thereby hangs the entire business model of several library book
collections services. :)

The interpretation of the grace period as affecting the effective due
date but not the overdue fine makes sense to me, but since it it would
mean a change in library fines, I wanted to double-check that there
weren't a lot of libraries depending on the current behavior.

Regards,

Galen
-- 
Galen Charlton
gmcharlt at gmail.com