What's the Next Service Date?

The Next Service Date (NSD for this post, since I'll be saying it a lot) on the Patron Profile tab is one of the many factors that controls when a patron receives books, but it can cause confusion too. In a nutshell, the Next Service Date is a way to 'pause' a patron's service for that medium for a set period of time, without setting a hard block. But let's get a little more in-depth...

KLAS will only pay attention to Next Service Dates in the future.
KLAS will wait until the NSD to see if the patron needs service. However, once that date arrives, KLAS doesn't delete the info, it just ignores it. If the date is in the past, it will no longer affect the patron's service in any way.

So what does a future date actually affect?
If the NSD is in the future, the traditional Nightly Programs will skip right over that patron. That means KLAS won't check to see if they need more books, and it won't create an RSQueue reason if they can't be served (since it didn't even try).

However, a patron being served outside of Nightly can still get something. Serials, for example, aren't affected by this date at all--they're assigned by other processes. For patrons receiving traditional/Physical circulation, Reserves will still be automatically assigned when they become available.

For patrons receiving Duplication service, their Service Queue can still be refilled before this date, and RSQueue reasons can still be generated for that patron if their Queue can't be refilled. However, the part of Nightly that creates Duplication Orders will not make any new orders for that patron.

When is this date set?

KLAS maintains the NSD as part of calendar service. For example, if a patron's Serve Type is CA30/Calendar AutoSelect - Monthly Service, KLAS will advance the NSD by a month every time the patron is served. If the patron is only partially served, the date will remain as it was, and KLAS will keep trying to serve them until they get up to their cutoff--then, it will advance the NSD by 30 days (from the original date, when it started trying to serve them, not from the date it finished).

RAs or other staff can also adjust this date at any time!

I recommend using it when a patron "doesn't want books for awhile," but still wants their magazines. This way, if they call for a specific book before the NSD, they can still get it right away, without needing to remove or override a block. It won't interrupt their magazines at all or put them on a path to their account being withdrawn... it just pauses their books until that date.

You can also take advantage of it being tied to the medium to serve patrons who want to focus on braille for awhile (by pausing their DBs), or who want to hold their braille but still get Digital Books.

When I wouldn't use the next service date: if a patron strictly doesn't want anything until a certain date, a block or a status change is probably a better bet. The NSD doesn't stop Reserves (for Physical patrons), manual assignments, magazines... all kinds of things can "slip through."

I hope this cleared up some of your Next Service Date questions! Still have more? Ask away! Feel free to add your own examples of when to use (or not use) this feature as well