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Managing Loan Periods and Loan Limits

Library administrators can use the lending settings in Global Site Settings to manage the standard loan period and the number of titles a patron can have on loan.

These settings apply across your school’s digital collection rather than to individual titles.

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Before you begin

Before changing the lending settings, confirm:

  • that you have administrator access to your school’s ePlatform portal;
  • the loan period your school wants to provide;
  • the number of simultaneous loans each patron should be allowed; and
  • whether the titles belong to your school’s collection or the Shared Collection.

If you are changing established lending rules, make sure the new settings match the information your school provides to students and staff.

Open the loan settings

  1. Sign in to your school’s ePlatform portal as an administrator.
  2. Open the Admin area.
  3. Find Manage Library.
  4. Select Global Site Settings.
  5. Open the settings for loans.

The navigation path is: Admin area → Manage Library → Global Site Settings.

Manage the loan period

The Loan Period setting controls the standard length of a loan for titles in your school’s digital collection.

  1. Go to Admin area → Manage Library → Global Site Settings.
  2. Open the loan settings.
  3. Find Loan Period.
  4. Review the currently selected loan period.
  5. Select the loan period required by your school.
  6. Review the change before applying it.

The loan-period setting applies across the digital collection. It is not configured separately for each individual title.

Manage the loan limit

The loan limit controls how many titles a patron can have on loan at the same time.

  1. Go to Admin area → Manage Library → Global Site Settings.
  2. Open the loan settings.
  3. Find the loan-limit setting.
  4. Review the current limit.
  5. Select the limit required by your school.
  6. Review the change before applying it.

Consider how the selected limit will work with the size of your collection and the number of patrons using it.

Test the lending settings

After changing the loan period or loan limit, test the reader experience using a patron account.

  1. Sign out of the Admin area.
  2. Sign in using a test patron account.
  3. Borrow an available title from your school’s collection.
  4. Review the loan information shown for the title.
  5. Confirm that the patron can borrow titles up to the configured loan limit.
  6. Confirm that another title cannot be borrowed after the limit is reached.

Use a test account rather than a student’s account when checking administrative changes.

Shared Collection rules

Local loan-limit and reserve settings apply to your school’s own ePlatform collection.

If your school uses the Shared Collection, the loan limits and reserve rules for that shared collection are managed by ePlatform.

Changes made in your school’s Global Site Settings do not replace the lending rules used by the Shared Collection.

Common questions

Can I set a different loan period for one title?

The Loan Period setting applies across your school’s digital collection rather than to an individual title.

Why can’t a patron borrow another title?

The patron may have reached the loan limit configured for the library. Review the patron’s current loans and the loan-limit setting under Admin area → Manage Library → Global Site Settings.

The title may also be unavailable because all copies are currently on loan. If reserves are enabled, the patron may be able to reserve the title instead.

Why are the shared collection rules different?

The Shared Collection is used by multiple participating schools. Its loan limits and reserve rules are therefore managed centrally by ePlatform rather than through your school’s local settings.

Do freely accessible titles count towards patron loan limits?

No. Freely accessible titles are excluded from the simultaneous Loan Limit and the Monthly Loan Limit configured in Global Site Settings.

Need help?

If the lending settings do not appear or the reader experience does not match the settings you selected, contact support@eplatform.co.

Please include:

  • your school or library name;
  • whether the affected title is from your school’s private collection or the Shared Collection;
  • the loan period or loan limit you selected;
  • what happened when you tested the setting;
  • any error message displayed; and
  • a screenshot of the relevant Global Site Settings page.

Do not include patron passwords or other sensitive sign-in information.