Lend Library is a flexible, configurable system to help you manage your lending or rental organisation. We have users across all the following industries, and more. Lend items to regular members, or rent items to one-off customers. Both are equally easy.
Lending or renting can be done self-serve by members or customers using a clear, easy-to-use website, or your staff can do it on behalf of a member. Just like shopping online, a user browses items and adds them to a cart.
Payment for loans or rentals can be taken at point of rental, or can be put against a member's credit balance. Loans don't have to cost anything at all. Some organisations charge a monthly or annual membership fee which covers the cost of items.
Loan/rental periods are determined by opening hours of your site(s); when someone creates a loan or rental it's easy to see which sites are open, and the available times.
Reservations can be used when a user or member wants an item at some time in the future. Using the simple calendar, it's easy to pick an available slot and create a reservation for one or more items. Reservation fees can be added at the point of creation, or charged when a user collects their items. Automated reservation reminders are sent the day before collection is due.
When a loan, rental or reservation is created, your customer or member is sent a confirmation email containing detailed information about the items they have borrowed or rented. If your items have public attachments, these will be sent too. Emails can be configured to contain exactly the text you need for your organisation.
Create prompts that users must complete when performing check-in and check-out. Prompts can apply to all items, or you can have prompts specific to certain items. Great for reminding volunteers or staff that an item must come with an extra disclaimer, or to check that fluid levels are full before renting out.
When items are returned, check in one item on a loan at a time (completing any workflow prompts required). If items are damaged, or need cleaning, then it's quick and easy to assign them to a technician or 'repair' location. Repair or cleaning staff will get automatic email notifications.
Charge for a time period, charge a fixed amount per loan / rental, or charge nothing at all. When it comes to fees and additional non-item charges (perhaps an urgent service fee), you can add one-off charges to a loan at any time. For overdue items being checked in, Lend Library will suggest an overdue fee (fine) which you can choose to take payment for at the time, or put on the member’s account.
Items can be set up to require a refundable deposit. This needs to be taken when a loan is checked out, regardless of a member or customer's account balance. When the item is checked back in again, the deposit can be easily refunded to the customer. If the deposit was taken by credit card using our Stripe integration, the refund is put back on the card. Every step is recorded in the payments audit trail, with rich information to make payment reconciliation easy.
Outstanding items on a loan or rental can be extended as long as there isn't an upcoming reservation. When you change the return date, you can add fees and take payment using a credit card. Customers/members receive an automated email to let them know of the new return date.