System librarian DOCUMENTATION
How to Set up Resource Sharing (Request and Delivery)
ã Ex Libris Ltd., 2002
Release 15 and Later
December 9, 2002
Table of Contents
Resource Sharing 3
Creating Hold Groups Online 3
Table Setup to Allow Title-level Holds 3
Check_hold_request_e_camp check 5
Supply Router Service Setup (cir-24) 6
Specification for the Supply Router 7
Running the Process 8
Maintenance 9
Resource Sharing
Resource sharing is a mechanism by which a group of sublibraries can optimize the use of their collections, making them available to all patrons, regardless of location. When a library patron requests an item, he indicates where he will want to pick up the item, and the system will decide which is the best item to fetch to answer the request.
Built into this optimization are the following concerns:
o A patron should not be able to request delivery of an on-shelf copy to the library in which the copy is located.
o A preferential sublibrary supplier list is system-defined for each pickup location.
o Not all patrons are necessarily equal: if a loaned item is requested by a patron, depending on the requester's and the borrower's patron statuses, the item will or will not be a candidate for recall.
Creating Hold Groups Online
All items attached to a single BIBliographic record are taken to be similar items – and so, placing a hold on all of the items is equivalent to the function of placing title-level holds.
In order to have the system place holds on all similar items when placing a hold request on one specific item, the following line must be present in the following two configuration files:
In ./alephe/www_server.conf:
setenv hold_pickup_from_all_items Y
In ./alephe/pc_server_defaults:
setenv hold_pickup_from_all_items Y
Table Setup to Allow Title-level Holds
tab10: The following switches must be set to N in ADM50/tab/tab10:
· 1 TAB10-HOLD-REQUEST-ITEM-STATUS – YN
N = a hold request ignores the item status of the copy chosen for hold.
· 2 TAB10-HOLD-REQUEST-COLLECTION - YN
N = a hold request ignores the collection of the copy chosen for hold.
· 26 TAB10-SUB-LIBRARY-DIVISION - YN
N = a hold/photocopy request ignores the sublibrary of the copy chosen for the hold/photocopy request.
These three switches configure what will be “like” items. When all the switches are set to N, every item with the same enumeration (volume) attached to the BIBliographic record is considered to be a “like” item. Consequently, a hold will be placed on all items (in conjunction with other configuration).
tab15: All item statuses for which you want patrons to be able to place title-level holds must have column 11 set to N for ADM50/tab/tab15.lng.
Example:
! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 1
! 0 1 2 3 4 5
!!!!!-!!-!!-!-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!!
15A 12 ## L One Week Loan Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y 00
Column 11’s description is “If this item is requested in the Web OPAC, the patron will be given this specific item, not another copy”. N means a hold will be placed on all “like” items.
This setup can be sublibrary specific or by sublibrary groups. The groups (e.g. 15A) are defined in $alephe_tab/tab_sub_library.lng.
In order to enable a patron to place a request on an item that is on the shelf (i.e. that is not on loan), put the appropriate Y or N or C in tab15.lng, column 8. This should be C, meaning that the item can be requested when it is on the shelf. This is often used for Closed Stacks, hence the C .
tab31: If you want to allow patrons to place holds for items on the shelf, then column 16 in tab31 must be set to Y.
tab_hold_request: The appropriate checks for hold requests must be defined in ADM50/tab/tab_hold_request. In particular, in order for a hold to be placed on an item when a similar item is on the shelf, the following check must not be present:
POST check_hold_request_o
And the following check must be present:
BALANCE check_hold_request_e_camp
Item availability check in tab10: Define ADM50/tab/tab10 according to the library's policy:
52 TAB10-AVAILABILITY-ROUTINE - 12
· 1 = item is non-available if it is on loan, or on hold, or has request (Z37-SOURCE is C or O).
· 2 = item is non-available if it is on loan, or on hold, or has request (Z37-SOURCE O only).
Use type 2.
Check_hold_request_e_camp check
When a hold request is placed from the Web OPAC or from the Circulation GUI, the appropriate pickup locations available have to be based on all of the items that are attached to the BIBliographic record.
A normal check (not of the campus type) of tab37 checks just the sublibrary of the item that is being requested, and if there is no available pickup location, it cannot be requested.
The new check_hold_request_e_camp consults all of the lines from tab37 that correspond to all of the "like" items for this request. The pickup drop-down box includes only those sublibraries that are valid pickup locations for all “like” items.
Example setup, tab37 lines:
“N” in column 5 means if the item is given on loan, the patron can pick it up at these locations. “Y” means the system checks if the item is available. A common example of this is that you cannot pick up an item at its own location if it is on the shelf. In this case the patron has to go to the shelf and get it.
When looking at these examples, if an item is on loan, use the N line. If it is not on loan, use the Y line.
! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
!!!!!-!!-!!-!!-!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!
ULINC ## ## ## Y 01 UEDUC ULAW
ULINC ## ## ## N 01 UEDUC ULINC ULAW
UEDUC ## ## ## Y 01 ULINC ULAW
UEDUC ## ## ## N 01 ULINC UEDUC ULAW
ULAW ## ## ## Y 01 ULAW UEDUC ULINC
ULAW ## ## ## N 01 ULAW UEDUC ULINC
Example 1: Three items, ULINC, ULAW and UEDUC. All three are on loan. From the table above (lines with N in column 5):
ULINC item can be picked up at UEDUC ULINC ULAW
ULAW item can be picked up at ULAW ULINC UEDUC
UEDUC item can be picked up at ULINC UEDUC ULAW
No matter which of the three items the patron places a hold request on, the pickup list will be ULAW, UEDUC and ULINC, because these are all valid pickup locations for all three items. The pickup list always includes all pickup locations of all items.
Example 2: Three items, all three are not on loan. From the table above (lines with Y in column 5):
ULINC item can be picked up at ULAW, UEDUC
ULAW item can be picked up at ULINC, ULAW, UEDUC
UEDUC item can be picked up at ULINC, ULAW
The only pickup location that will be available is ULAW, because that is the only one that is in all three lines. ULAW allows paging (ordering an item from storage using a hold request) so items can be requested for pickup at ULAW. Otherwise, the patron has to go to the shelf to get the item.
Example 3: Three items, two are not on loan one is on loan.
ULINC is not on loan
ULAW is not on loan
UEDUC is on loan
ULINC item can be picked up at ULAW, UEDUC
ULAW item can be picked up at ULINC, ULAW, UEDUC
UEDUC item can be picked up at ULINC, ULAW, UEDUC
The two available pickup locations are UEDUC and ULAW. Since the UEDUC item is on loan, the patron can request it with UEDUC and ULAW as the pickup location. The ULINC item is not on loan. The patron is not allowed to request it with pickup location ULINC. He has to take it from the shelf or request it with ULAW as the pickup location.
Supply Router Service Setup (cir-24)
1. Set up the preferred supplier table, ./ADM50/tab/tab37_campus_preferred
! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!-!!!!!
ULAW ULAW ULINC UGDOC
ULINC ULINC UUPTN
USCI UHLTH USCI UARCV ULINC
UEDUC UEDUC
##### ULINC UARCV UMUSI UHLTH USCI UUPTN UEDUC UELEC UGDOC
##### ULAW URESV
This table determines which sublibrary should be the preferred supplier for a given pickup location. In the example above, if someone wants to pick up a requested item at the ULAW sublibrary, then the library first tries to supply it from ULAW, ULINC or UGDOC (in that order). If an item from none of those three sublibraries is available, then the #### lines are used to determine the preferred supplier (i.e. go outside of your local group).
2. Set up the hold request filter table, ./ADM50/tab/tab37_campus_filter
Do not allow hold requests on items that are on loan or requested by a particular patron status, or those that have a particular item status or item processing status, based on a table that looks like this:
! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
!!!!!-!!-!!-!!-!!-!-!
ULAW ## ## ## 03 N N
ULAW ## ## ## 02 Y N
##### ## ## ## 25 N N
##### ## ## ## ## Y Y
In the above example, ULAW items on loan to faculty members (patron status 03) cannot be requested (either regular or recall). ULAW items on loan to graduate students (patron status 02) can be requested but not recalled. Items on loan to system "patrons" with patron status 25 (such as Bindery and CATALOGER) cannot be requested, regardless of item sublibrary.
Specification for the Supply Router
First, the patron places a hold request on items, which creates a group. For each hold group, there is an Original hold (O) and one or more Copies (C). The service performs two general tasks: if one of the copies is available, the O status is moved to the most appropriate item; if all of the copies are on loan, one of them might be recalled.
1. The router first expands the request to include additional items based on identification of all like items, and then eliminates unwanted items from the group based on standard check_hold_requests (BALANCE section).
2. The router service chooses the best copy to satisfy the hold request: if there is a copy or copies on the shelf, tab_37_campus_preferred is checked, and the best on-shelf copy is chosen. If all copies are on loan, it sets one of the items in the hold group to be recalled, the one that has been on loan the longest. The Recall Loans service (cir-13) must be run to change the item’s due date.
3. The library runs the Print Call Slips service (cir-12) that sends a call slip to the library that has the available copy. The staff at the sublibrary should go to the shelf to get the copy, and perform a return to trigger a "hold request is filled" letter. When a return transaction is performed, the Z37-hold-date is updated to the current date and the item is placed on the hold shelf. This item will no longer be under consideration of the router. When the hold request is filled, the system removes all parallel requests leaving only the one request that matches the item on which the return was performed.
4. The Recall Loans service is run (cir-13), resetting the due date of recalled items, and sending a letter to the patron. A hold of this type is no longer under consideration for the router, and remains attached to this copy only.
5. The next time the service cir-24 is run, it checks the items with hold requests that were not filled yet, that is the item's z37-hold-date field is empty (Step 3 above). Then the "O" status is moved to the item of the next library in the list in tab37_campus_preferred. (z37-letter-date is used to keep track of the fact that an item has been processed by cir-24 before.)
6. When cir-24 is run, it also examines new z37 requests and processes them as described in Step 5 above. An item is a new request if the Z37-LETTER-STATUS is blank.
Running the Process
The router only works on hold groups, not on individual holds – so be sure that the “grouping” is set up as above.
1. Run the supply router service (cir-24)
The service is run from the Services menu in the Circulation GUI.
Retrieval lapse: the router will wait this number of days before it moves the request to the next available item. This should be the number of days it takes to retrieve an item from the shelf.
Recall lapse: the number of days before the Recall Loans service (cir-13) resets the date and sends a letter to the current borrower.
Update database? Y/N
2. Run the Recall Loans service (cir-13)
The service is run from the Services menu in the Circulation GUI. Note that you can reset the letter counter if you want the overdue notices to restart after an item is recalled.
As a result of this service each loan's due date is changed to the recalled due date and letters are created to notify the patron that the item has been recalled.
Note: In order to ensure that only the recall service determines a recall, set the following flag in ADM50/tab10 to N:
! 63 TAB10-UPDATE-RECALL-DATE - YN
! This switch determines if, when an item is loaned, and
! there is a matching outstanding hold request, the loaned
! item should immediately be considered "recalled", or whether
! a loaned item becomes "recalled" only through the batch
! recall service (cir-13).
! Y = item loan can trigger "recall" (Z36-recall-date and
! z36-recall-due-date are automatically set at time