Barring patrons

Barring Patrons - Updated Feb 21, 2025 by Smith
Anytime a library wishes to stop a user from being able to use a library card, their status may be manually set to Barred. Patrons may be Barred temporarily or more permanently. Barring a patron should not be done lightly. The BARRED status excludes patrons from the normal database maintenance. 


BARRED is different than a status of DELINQUENT, which indicates the patron has unpaid fines or overdue items, and is set by the system. A delinquent patron with too high fines or too many overdues may become BLOCKED from checking out, also automatically set by the system. A Barred patron has been manually blocked from checking out.

Some examples of when patrons are set to Barred:

  • Phone, email, or mail messages returned as invalid -- The account is barred until phone/email/address verified
  • Patron complained of others using card – The account is barred, and then unbarred to checkout and rebarred after checkout is complete

Some examples of when NOT to set patrons to Barred:

  • Duplicate card found -- Instead of Barring, move existing bills, holds, and checkouts to active card and then set Profile to REMOVE
  • Deceased or moved patrons -- Instead of Barring, remove existing bills, holds, and checkouts and then set Profile to REMOVE


How to Bar a Patron:

  • Click the Modify/Renew User Wizard
  • Either scan patron card (if available) or search for patron through the User Search helper.
  • Locate patron in hitlist (verify with birthdate and phone number)
  • Highlight patron and click “Modify User”
  • In user record, click on “Privilege” tab.In “Status” dropdown box, click the arrow and select “Barred”. Enter your override.
  • Click on “Extended Info” Tab.
  • In “Comment” box, write a note explaining why the status was set to Barred.
    • Notes will vary based on circumstances: see Deceased Patron and Duplicate User Record for two other examples.
    • It is extremely important that you include the library’s initials in the Note (ex: OS – Oshkosh Public Library), and be as detailed as possible, so that others can tell who placed the note in the record, and under what circumstances to unbar the card
  • Make other changes to user record as necessary (indicating Duplicate or Deceased, removing email addresses, etc). 
  • When finished, press Save to close the record.

To Unbar Patron:

  • Click Modify/Renew User Wizard.
  • Either scan patron card, or search for patron through the User Search helper.
  • Type in Last Name, first initial of First Name. Press the Search button or hit the Enter Key
  • Locate patron in hitlist (verify with birthdate and phone number)
  • Highlight patron and click “Modify User”
  • In user record, click on “Privilege” tab.
  • In “Status” dropdown box, click the arrow and select “Okay”. Enter your override.
  • Click on “Extended Info” tab.
  • Remove any note in Comment box.
  • Make other changes as necessary.
  • When finished, press Save to close the user record.