Improving Date Due “Courtesy Notice” Emails

I received an automated email this morning from Robertson Library:

Dear Peter Rukavina,
Our records indicate these items are due in 3 days:

Please return or renew this material before fines accumulate.
Note that laptops and other reserve items cannot be renewed.
You may renew your material in one of 3 ways:
   - online with your "My Account" page
     (https://islandpines.roblib.upei.ca/opac/en-CA/skin/roblib/xml/myopac.xml?ol=4&l=4&d=2)
   - by phoning 902-566-0583
   - by replying to this email circdesk@upei.ca

Thank You.
   How we decide, by Lehrer, Jonah.
   Call Number: BF448.L45 2010
   Due Date: 2013-06-24
   Barcode: 37348007190119

What’s the first question that a patron like me asks when receiving an email like this? When exactly is this book due!

And where is that information? Buried down at the bottom in a difficult-to-parse date format:

   Due Date: 2013-06-24

We can do so much better than this. Here’s a quick prototype for a better format for this kind of email:

Prototype for a better date due courtesy notice.

This prototype has several features that I’m looking for as a patron:

  1. It includes the cover image of the book, so I can quickly remember which book it is from the several I might have checked out (the cover image is already in the Evergreen system that’s sending out the mail, so it should be trivial to include it).
  2. The date due is bold and obvious.
  3. There’s an option to add the due date to my calendar (clicking this would send me an iCalendar file).
  4. Renewal options are clearer.
  5. Useless information like the call number and barcode aren’t included.

This is only a quick first pass at what an improvement might look like, but I think it’s clear, regardless, that improvements can be made.

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