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281 results found

  1. It would be helpful to have the ability to prevent a hold from being canceled based on its pickup location.

    We have holds pickup lockers installed in three locations and are finding that if the lockers contain an item which has since had its hold canceled, the lockers will send a CheckIn SIP transaction to Sierra for that item, resulting in the item being [logically] used to fulfill someone else's hold [while physically still housed in a locker]. For popular new releases, this is happening more frequently than one might imagine. The ability to disallow the cancellation of holds at…

    5 votes
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  2. At checkout, Circulation Staff must ask patrons at the end of each checkout if they want a printed receipt, email receipt, both, or none, or place a pop-up message on their account. It would be great if there were a way to retain each patron's receipt preference so that upon closing out the patron's record, the preferred receipt would be sent, print, both, or no receipt would be given.

    21 votes
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  3. When using the Rapid Update function to update individual item records, you can select a specific field (or fields) and values to update. After setting up your desired fields to update, you then scan the item barcode, hit Enter twice, and return to the point to scan the following barcode. We have had multiple instances where staff accidentally insert an additional field to change after scanning a barcode. One example is if they accidentally hit the space bar instead of the Enter key. It then defaults to the Copy# field. If there were a way to lock the selected Commands…

    13 votes
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  4. Because our library does not use fines, having the "Failed to acquire fines payment lock. If not cleared, fines payments cannot be processed" message is of no utility for us. We'd love multiple users to be able to view a patron record without this message showing up.

    4 votes
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  5. In our library, all in-transit items are put into a single bin at the check-in location to be picked up and run through a central sorter which separates them by destination. This workflow doesn't require the use of transit slips, so our staff are trained to choose not to print one when prompted at check-in.

    Having to choose "no" at check-in for each item can become onerous when staff are checking in many items, but currently the only alternative is to have the system automatically print a transit slip for every item — which would simply be a waste of…

    15 votes
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  6. Sierra 6.3 saw the introduction of a feature that allows users to select a file in Create Lists mode & then, from the Tools - Send To menu, direct that file to either Global or Rapid Update, eliminating the need to navigate to those functions & then find & select that file.

    I would like to see the same introduced, but for the Delete Records function.

    Doing so would similarly streamline the workflow when doing record purges in Sierra.

    8 votes
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  7. When an item lacks an ISBN in the 020 field (DVDs and CDs only generally have UPCs in the 024 field) the cover image is very much hit or miss. Syndetics has been contacted, however, it appears that Sierra needs to "pass the UPC code” in order for this to work. This addition would be helpful.

    10 votes
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  8. The Time to Holdshelf feature in Sierra is useful in keeping patrons from showing up too early to pick up their holds. As seen in the attachment "Discovery Layer View" – which in our case happens to be BiblioCore – the availability status correctly reflects that the recently checked-in item "Easter Mice!" is not ready for pickup because the item is en route to the pickup location (which in this case is a set of freestanding pickup lockers in a remote area of the county).

    However, the holds status as displayed in the SDA incorrectly reports the item as being…

    24 votes
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  9. As a consortium, our system has hundreds of location codes. We appreciate the new functionality to add locations to scopes ourselves, but it is cumbersome to scroll through the list of hundreds of branch entries each time to find the code you need to add. It would be helpful if there was search functionality, where you can type in the code, and it brings up the corresponding entry in the branches list for you to select.

    4 votes
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  10. It would be nice if there was a setting in the Receiving function to limit your search to only items available to be received. We search by PO and have to wade through loads of items already received and billed. This was available years and years ago on the old Horizon system.

    7 votes
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  11. In Sierra, on Windows 11, when you click "Tile Vertically" so you can see multiple records at the same time, it makes the windows too long, so that the bottom of the windows get hidden behind the taskbar if it is locked. It does not do this if you maximize a record window, or if you use snap. It only seems to be the "Tile Vertically" function.

    We use this function a lot to compare records for deduplication, and it is really annoying to have to manually resize windows so you can see the whole thing.

    15 votes
    How important is this to you?
  12. There SHOULD be an OpenAPI definition document available for Sierra's APIs via Swagger, but currently, there is not.

    The OpenAPI definition document (https://swagger.io/specification/) is a standardized format for describing the structure and behavior of an API. It is a machine-readable document, usually written in JSON or YAML, that provides a comprehensive blueprint of an API's endpoints, operations, input/output parameters, response formats, authentication methods, and other essential details.

    For comparison, here is an example for the Polaris API / Swagger install (on an iii training server):
    https://polaris-training.polarislibrary.com/PAPIService/swagger/v1/swagger.json

    Benefits of an OpenAPI Definition Document:

    * Standardization: Provides a consistent format
    30 votes
    How important is this to you?
  13. We would like to change the wording on our bills to patrons for long-overdue items from “COLECTIONS AGENCY REPORT CHARGE” to “MATERIALS RECOVERY SERVICE CHARGE,” but this is hard-coded. We use Unique Management, who describes themselves as a materials recovery service, and we try hard to always use that wording and not say "collection" or "collection agency." Some patrons have become alarmed by seeing "collection agency" on our bills for long-overdue items and in their accounts.

    8 votes
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  14. Library staff would like to be able to see more details on holds that have been placed, including how the hold was placed (Sierra Desktop vs. SierraWeb vs. Web vs. mobile app, etc.) and who placed the hold (Sierra login if not the patron).

    Right now, it is not consistent how holds information is displayed.

    If you view holds w/in a patron record (holds tab), you don't see when the hold was placed or how they placed it. However, if you View Cancelled Holds, you see the date/time it was placed, along with the date/time it was cancelled, along with…

    30 votes
    How important is this to you?
  15. Intergrating Sierra with IMMS, Sierra does not show the placement information from IMMS on item records. In particular, when the items are stored in chaotic placements such as hold shelves. This means that looking for an item on a hold shelf or other chaotic type location in Sierra, the user has to copy the barcode from Sierra to IMMS to pin point it's known location.

    With further integration, it would be great to see placement information in Sierra to assist staff with helping customers find items on hold shelves in particular.

    11 votes
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  16. Currently, Sierra does not provide built-in functionality for processing or tracking refunds. While the system records partial payments that result in credits (displayed as negative fines) and waivers applied by staff (visible in Fines Paid), there is no equivalent workflow or tracking for refunds.
    We request the addition of a refund tracking feature within the patron record, ensuring that staff can see when a refund has been issued. Specifically, we propose:
    A clear refund indicator in the patron record.
    A display of refund amounts including payment method in the Fines tab, similar to how fines and waivers are shown.
    An…

    7 votes
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  17. The only option for eReceipts is plain text. It would be a fantastic feature to customers to be able to build a nice HTML email for them.

    6 votes
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  18. Problem:
    In the current version of the Sierra system, restricted or sensitive bibliographic records can only be suppressed from the public catalog but remain visible and accessible to catalogers within the system. This visibility creates the risk of accidental editing, publishing, or mishandling of these records, particularly:

    • Restricted Records: Some records are sensitive or confidential and should not be visible to all catalogers.
    • Records Under Review: Records undergoing auditing or verification need protection from edits until the review is completed.

    • Recommendation:
      Introduce a feature that allows the System Administrator or Cataloging Supervisor to hide specific bibliographic records within the Sierra…

    9 votes
    How important is this to you?
  19. We'd like to see a date/time stamp on the "Restart a process/terminal" display in the Admin Corner and be able to sort by it. We sometimes run out of licenses because staff don't sign out of their SDA sessions at the end of their shifts, and we have to contact Innovative and request that connections older than the current day be closed. It would be helpful to be able to do this ourselves. Currently, we can preemptively reset all connections early in the morning before staff arrive, but if a problem arises during the day we don't want to cause…

    7 votes
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  20. The Situation: Our library's room checkout suddenly shorted to a hard limit of 6:00pm. I discovered that last year's spring break hours were listed in the Hours Open table and last year spring break occurred earlier in March.

    The Problem: Entries in the Hours Open table do not include the year. If the year was included, hour checkout issue wouldn't have been an issue.

    Solution #1: Add the ability to include the year to Hours Open table. Default to the current year but have the ability to change the year.

    Solution #2: Revamp the Hours Open table. Modifying the Hours…

    5 votes
    How important is this to you?
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