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ILS - Sierra

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  1. We would like “replacement” changed to a term that reflects the actual item status. Currently, “replacement” is used for both long-overdue and damaged items that have been billed. To determine whether a billed item is damaged or simply overdue, staff must open the item record and check for a damage note.

    3 votes

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  2. Data Exchange should determine if a file being loaded is in UTF-8 or MARC-8 format before loading. If it is MARC-8, it should be converted to UTF-8 before loading.

    I want to be clear that I'm not talking about using the MARC bit that supposedly identifies if the character set is UTF-8. That cannot be trusted. I want a system like the character detect feature in MarcEdit, that will actually look at the characters in the incoming records and determine what character set they really are.

    There are still a lot of MARC-8 records out there, and it is not…

    12 votes

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  3. We'd like the ability to customise the display of Sierra popup messages, specifically we'd like the ability to increase the font size for key information (for example, the pickup location or destination) so it stands out more clearly. We would also like the option to hide the call number, as it is not used by our library.

    3 votes

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  4. The current wording of the fines payment lock messaging implies the presence of fines, which is not always the case and is misleading. To reduce confusion for staff, please change the message wording to indicate that another station has the record open, therefore the fines function in the patron record is locked. This will indicate to staff the reason why it's locked (another station has it open) and what they can't do while it's locked (access the fines function in the patron record).

    46 votes

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  5. From time to time we'll see support tickets where, because of some glitch in the discovery layer, a patron has managed to place upwards of 60 bib level holds on a title.

    The holds need to be cancelled in Sierra, so you select 'All.' However, doing so, you still have to address each item individually with a series of additional pop-ups. Over & over again.

    This is just one example where I'd like to see selecting 'All' allow for making a single, batch change on the selected records.

    4 votes

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  6. We've updated many of our data fields to have long names that make sense to front end staff who see patron and item records, however Create list sees the long name values when creating a list search, but the export of the data exports the system name. For example PCODE3 is called "Local Library" for our system, but a create list export defaults back to PCODE3. It would be nice to be able to export using the contexual long name so admins and create list users don't have to have a cheat sheet or remember what the system code is…

    4 votes

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  7. We'd like to be able to track how many times an item was checked out to our patrons vs patrons from other libraries.

    7 votes

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  8. Currently the only way to extend item due dates is to run Rapid Update on a review file of those items. I would like to be able to programmatically update due dates via the API. I see two potential benefits of this feature:

    Benefit 1: Rapid Update prompts for a single absolute date to apply to a group of items in a review file. There have been many times when we have wanted to extend the due dates of a group of items by "n days", regardless of their current due date. It would be straightforward to write a Python…

    8 votes

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  9. Sierra SDA allows you to place holds on items with special statuses, and do not show any pop-up window to warn of this circumstance. Currently this is not possible in Sierra for statuses other than 'Library Use Only'.

    We would like the system to display a pop-up window when attempting to place a hold on an item with special status, as Sierra SDA does in checkout and checkin procedures.

    Thanks.

    13 votes

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  10. Please add a unique, control number (ID) to predefined charges table in Sierra. This control number should be exported in the Fines Paid report. Currently, libraries waste significant administrative hours manually reconciling monthly, quarterly, and annual revenue because edited descriptions break automated data sorting (like Excel Pivot Tables).

    The Problem:
    To balance monthly revenue, libraries must sum payments by the type of predefined charge (e.g., photocopy charges, replacement cards, damaged books, donations).
    Because Sierra lacks a dedicated, un-editable control number for predefined charges, we are forced to hardcode budget codes directly into the text description fields:
    • 3323 Library Mug…

    3 votes

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  11. We have shelves for new materials, and item location codes for these ("new mysteries," "new fiction," "new DVDs," and lots more). Moving items from the new shelves to the regular shelves is a chore, both in handling materials and in knowing (and selecting) what location to change them to. It would be great if you could just get into a function in Sierra that would change the current item location (the "new" one in my example) to the permanent item location (a new field that would be added with this idea, which would catalogers would populate when the item was…

    30 votes

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  12. When a new library card is created in a month, Sierra auto-populates the expiration date for the card as next month +3 years, but this has to be manually adjusted every month by the Circ supervisor. It would be nice if Sierra could automatically set the expiration date for library cards created every month.

    13 votes

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  13. When AACP is turned on and we've loaded new / changed authorities, there are some bib records impacted by the authorities' headings which do not get automatically updated and require staff edits. Sometimes it is terminal punctuation that needs to be added for certain entries perhaps tied to a new closed death date; or sometimes it's an indicator in a bib MARC field that should get added because it's in the authority record that's new or changed. We think just a little bit of development here would help save staff time.

    6 votes

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  14. When checking in an item over Sierra, it would be helpful to have an extra column added for item status. e.g. Available, In Transit or On Holdshelf. This would add more transparency when processing items (especially if we are interrupted mid-scan), allow for double checking items are placed in the right pile, and help with training new staff who may want to have more visibility around the different journeys an item can take once returned. Added bonus: If it can show the additional sorting groups available in IMMS, this will assist staff even more.

    27 votes

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  15. It would be nice to be able to choose location agency and leave location blank in the determiner table for some situations. In our case we have 4 partner library systems and one has 7 branches. Each of these branches has the exact same loan rules to allow certain items to circ to the whole consortium, and others to limit to only their system. If we could use agency, we would only have to create one set of those rules instead of one for each branch location prefix (in this case their branches are pri, max, bar,

    2 votes

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  16. Sierra WebPAC currently recognizes URLs stored in MARC 505 $u and displays them as clickable links. However, the full URL is displayed as the link text, with no option to use descriptive text from another 505 subfield.

    MARC 505 $u is valid for providing electronic access to an online table of contents. For records containing multiple volumes or parts, libraries may need to associate each URL with descriptive text, for example:

    505 00 $t Volume 1 $u https://example.com/volume1 $t Volume 2 $u https://example.com/volume2

    Requested Enhancement:

    Please add a configurable WebPAC option for MARC 505, similar to DISPLAY_856, allowing a library…

    2 votes

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  17. Staff would like to see the ability to sort results retrieved from queries performed in Sierra's Search/Holds mode.

    Say for example they do a keyword search for Star Wars at our Forest Park branch. 124 items are found. The results are displayed alphabetically by default. But if the staff member wants to quickly sort by DVDs, they can't even click on the Format column heading, as it exists currently.

    While they can run multiple limits to narrow down the results by format, language, shelving location, publication date, etc., they might just as equally be inclined to SORT the entire list…

    3 votes

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  18. Currently, in order to maintain the out loc field in an item record while it is checked out for libraries with auto-renewal, the actual renewal location statistic group number must be zero. This is frustrating as the zero stat group number does not display in reports and we need all renewals to appear in reports. There needs to be a way to retain the out loc in an item record when the renewal stat group number is not zero.

    10 votes

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  19. As a consortium, we schedule several monthly jobs/tasks for all 78 library locations. Scheduler does not allow you to copy an existing job/task and apply it to another library. We had to manually add each job, even though the majority of the parameters were the same. (78 lib * 5 tasks each is a lot of manual work.) And/or we should be able to create a template to reuse.

    4 votes

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  20. More control over choosing priority between the item-level holds queue and the bibliographic-level holds manually so that the Processing department can pull back specific items on popular, high-volume holds with more ease.

    2 votes

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