Library Answers: Los Rios Common Questions

For most patrons, the user expiration date is set when the patron is loaded into Alma from the Student Information System (SIS load and synchronization jobs). For students and adjunct faculty, the expiration date is set for the end of the current or upcoming semester in which they are enrolled/employed. Full-time faculty and staff do not have an expiration date. 

The expiration date on a user's account is part of the external data that is controlled by the user sync jobs. External data is grayed out in Alma and not editable on the patron's record in it's normal state. 

Typically, the user's expiration date should not be modified. It will be maintained and updated automatically and should be left alone. 

In certain circumstances, due dates for loans must be extended to an upcoming semester; however, a due date cannot extend past a user's expiration date. To modify the patron's expiration date, follow these steps. 

Changing a single user

1. Search for the user and open the patron record. 

   

2. In the upper right corner of the user's record, select Open for Update.

   

3. A pop-up warning will display asking if you'd like to protect any fields from being updated by the User Sync. Select No.

   

4. Update the user's expiration date to the desired due date. Click Save.

   

5. Perform the checkout or change the due date of an existing loan.
6. Return to the user's record to set the expiration date back to its previous setting. This means repeating steps 1-4 with the expiration date set to the end of the current term.

   Note that you cannot save an expiration date earlier than the current date. During recesses, when the expiration date had been the last date of the previous term, enter the current date instead.

Important Notes

• The last step, setting the user's date back to the previous date, is particularly important at the end of the semester. If we skip this step, current loans that should be due at the end of the semester may be renewed automatically.
• Changes to a user's expiration date may be overwritten in the daily user sync job.
• If you've changed the expiration date in order to extend a loan, the due date of the loan will not be shortened when the user's expiration date is changed to a date earlier than the due date.
• Two weeks prior to the start of a new semester, the expiration date for all enrolled students will be updated to the end of the upcoming semester.
• Students who drop all of their courses during a particular term will have their expiration date reset to an earlier date by the daily user sync job.

Changing a set of users

A system administrator can change the expiration date of a set of users using the Update/Notify Users Job.