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ILS - Sierra

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268 results found

  1. 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.

    38 votes

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  2. Considerable time would be saved if bib records suppressed from public display (by way of a suppression code) were not included in the Headings Report. These bib records are typically from electronic sets or batches that amount to hundreds of records, some with several headings for each record.

    7 votes

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  3. Keeping our systems secure with SSL certificates is essential. Certificates need to be renewed and there is a service commitment to handle this process. But there is a better way. SSL providers can be setup to automatically renew and deliver an updated SSL certificate to our systems when their expiration time approaches.

    This idea is for Innovative to support software-only site with setting up an automatic SSL renewal process thereby keeping our systems safe from expiring certificates and making the process worry-free.

    26 votes

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  4. Problem:

    Currently, the "Prioritize Paging Open Locations First" feature and the "Prioritize Hold Fulfillment at the Pickup Location" feature for Title Priority Paging are incompatible. When you have both turned on, pages will skip closed locations and page at an open location, but will not allow the hold to be filled because there is a copy available at the hold pickup location. However, the hold pickup location is not paged for that item since paging skipped that location, so they don't see that patrons are waiting. This causes staff confusion and also impacts how quickly a patron can receive their…

    7 votes

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  5. Additional options for patron blocks would be amazing and allow additional control for libraries to select what integrated systems or circulation services are available. e.g. Block self-service options in the library (SIP2 or API), however, allow holds to be placed through discovery layers.

    The controls don't have to be limited to this. Adding the functions and options to select how these are applied from Sierra, rather than relying on integrated systems to control this would be great.

    6 votes

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  6. This idea came from a discussion at the IUG2025 Sierra Reporting Forum.

    It would be very useful to provide an endpoint to assist with gathering/generating the sorts of circulations statistics that would normally require SQL access. However, the all or nothing nature of SQL permissions is a barrier that prevents many users from being permitted to access those features. With the API on the other hand a user could be limited to simply having read access to an endpoint such as this, along with likely the bib and item endpoints so that they may craft reports without also having to…

    22 votes

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  7. The SAML login page with the option to choose SAML or Library login is very basic and does not convey information to patrons concerning the choice. In addition, the customization have limited options and are only available to Innovative support.

    The proposed idea is to provide more customization options for this page and open these customizations to customers through a self-service feature. In addition to the current options available to Innovative such as logo changes and colors, the SAML login page should have options to add a block of text for instructions using HTML so that links could be included.…

    1 vote

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  8. Add a field to ILL records that includes the hold pull date. This information is in the ILL clear hold shelf report, so the system has the information. It does not appear in the ILL record and therefore cannot print on the hold slip. Staff need to manually write the date on each hold slip. Other hold slips, including INN-Reach, print a pull date and ILL holds should be able to have this information added to the record for printing purposes.

    5 votes

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  9. We use the Repeated Bills feature, where after the bill is sent day 30, we send a repeat bill (#2) on day 40 and a final repeat bill (#3) on day 50. Unfortunately, when you run the Notice job for Repeated Bills, there is no way to tell whether the repeat being sent is for day 40 (#2) or day 50 (#3) except if you scroll through all of them and do the math as it pertains to the item status date. Staff haven't been doing that regularly. Ideally, there would be a column that showed you what # of…

    4 votes

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  10. Currently the only hold parameters one can modify via the API are

    PatronHoldPut {
        pickupLocation (string, optional): the hold's pickup location code,
        freeze (boolean, optional): whether the hold should be frozen (suspended)
    }

    It would be very helpful if the Pickup By date – and while you're at it, the Hold Note – were added as modifiable parameters.  There have been many times when unscheduled branch closures or problems in sending hold pickup notices have caused us to want to extend hold Pickup By dates for items on the holdshelf.

    Having this functionality in an API endpoint would permit a…

    16 votes

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  11. When pulling Low Circulation (or High) reports (Collection Tools > Maintenance), would like to include the Series Title (if applicable) in the displayed (and exported) report. We run into titles that have low circs, but if we see it's in a series, we normally don't weed it, because the series should remain complete. Thus we are stuck using Create Lists for this type of information (either exporting the report as a review file and then exporting fields THAT way or simply starting with Create Lists from the get-go). It would be more convenient if it was included in Decision Center.

    8 votes

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  12. It would be useful to have CAS Apero enhanced to either:

    1. re-ingest the metadata automatically once the validUntil date is reached or

    2. have a setting to ignore the vaildUntil date.

    We are currently implementing OpenAthens which has a daily metadata refresh meaning the validUntil parameter is also changing daily.

    As Sierra cannot currently auto re-ingest metadata or be configured to ignore the validUntil parameter, we are currently hosting an edited metadata file on our web server (with a really long validUntil date) as a work around.

    1 vote

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  13. The high demand hold report is a powerful tool that sums system items and system holds.

    Adding a "hold status" and "item status" pre-search limiters would vastly improve the use of this report

    Why add these limits?

    There is no Sierra product (including Decision Center) that allows users to deselect frozen holds from “total holds” count.

    This report counts "system holds" as any hold with any status (including item holds that will be filled by "in transit" item)

    This report counts "system items" as all items (including billed and missing) so there is no way to know how many items…

    20 votes

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  14. Sierra uses a particular Load Table to determine how bibliographic records are overlaid when new records loaded via Remote Search (i.e., downloaded from another library catalogue using Z39.50)

    According to Sierra's documentation the default Load Table is "m2btab.b", but Innovative can configure Sierra to use another one if desired.

    We have found that certain projects call for different Load Tables because different sets of fields should be retained, discarded, or inserted. It is possible to change to a different Load Table for remote search temporarily (or modify the current Load Table), but that would affect all cataloguers for the duration…

    8 votes

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  15. It is very easy to accidentally overwrite a review file in create lists. There should be a pop-up that asks if you want to overwrite the file so that you know you're doing it.

    13 votes

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  16. The Transfer Paged Items function in Sierra will display one of two statuses when the report is run - Eligible or Ineligible. You then check or batch select the requests you want to transfer. But the results might mix eligible items wit ineligible items & there's no way to group them together to make the selection & transfer process easier.

    Adding the ability to sort by the Status column would allow us to select the entire batch of items eligible for transfer much more easily.

    1 vote

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  17. Many libraries have eliminated fines and they would like alternative ways to provide an incentive for patrons to return items. We would like the option to block patron circulation based on a Library determined number of overdue items. This rule could be added to the Patron Block table so that libraries could customize rule as necessary.

    Idea Value: This new setting would provide an incentive for Customers to return their items.

    Idea Value: We don't want to restrict the number of items a Customer can sign out, but want to restrict borrowing after a specific number of overdues.

    Idea Value:…

    27 votes

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  18. Idea: update the expected format requirements for the email variable-length field to account for modern, non-standard email domains.

    Relevance: The prevalence of non-standard email domains is growing. Currently, Sierra accepts some non-standard formats, like .me, but rejects others like .health. This prevents the saving of the patron record and requires that the patron provide another email or change their notice preference.

    7 votes

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  19. It would be great if the logic & momentum that introduced Send To - Rapid or Global Update in Sierra 6.3 & will soon allow the same shortcut to Delete Items could also be applied to Globally Purge Charges.

    The state of Ohio has a statute of limitations on debt collection that has us purging money owed longer than 5 years on a weekly basis. While this is bazonkers IMO, apparently it's also the law of the land, & it would make the process much more quick & convenient if we could select a file in Create List, navigate to…

    11 votes

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  20. Create the ability to extract attached media files in bulk from Sierra.

    1 vote

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