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275 results found

  1. Idea Description

    It would be far nicer to have the ability to work with hold data directly--in contrast to having to retrieve hold data via the patron APIs. For example: currently, in order to (reasonably) find the "pickupByDate" values for holds with status "(Bib, Volume, Item) hold ready for pickup" you would have to use a combination of the Sierra SQL feature (to first find all the patron record numbers possessing such a hold) and then filter all the holds for the list of patrons (from the previous step) having the "pickupByDate" key in the response object. Once you have the holds,…

    13 votes

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  2. Allow patrons to set a thaw date when freezing holds. Patrons often forget they froze holds and the hold lingers until it expires. Also, make this information available in the API for third party vendors, such as discovery layers.

    26 votes

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  3. We've been exploring new ways that our library, as an institution, can meet the evolving interests of DEI efforts. One very small but meaningful way we thought we might do this is to allow for the inclusion of diacritic characters in customer names in Sierra.

    Their inclusion appears as desired on the customer record when created/displayed in Sierra (images dia1 - dia2).

    They do not appear to impede searching for the customer by name - the search just ignores them (images dia3 - dia4).

    They appear as desired in the name display in the Classic Catalog (image dia5).

    They appear…

    9 votes

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  4. The automated tool employed by Clarivate support to update iii and iii-root passwords every 30 days has an 8 character limit, which falls short of PCI requirements (15 characters). The Sierra application server, which hosts the web page connecting to PayPal is in scope for PCI, and therefore login credentials that can edit that web page need passwords of 15 characters or more.

    8 votes

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  5. There are instances where its appropriate to put in a MARC field in the bibliographic record that only pertains to your local institution and you wouldn't want that field erased if the record was overlaid. If that MARC field was designated a local-note, using a $5 then that field would be "protected".

    9 votes

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  6. Customers want to know what titles they've checked out even if the library no longer has it. It would be ideal if Sierra (and subsequent discovery layers can pull the info) could save the title and author in the record metadata so that even if the bib record is deleted, the customer can see it.

    20 votes

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  7. Update the Sierra API to allow self-check out of virtual items. We use Bibliocommons app and our customers cannot use the self-checkout feature to check out INN-Reach items.

    5 votes

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  8. It would be nice to have more control over Sierra pop ups. Like if you are checking in a large amount of items it is really annoying to click ok every time the item is set in transit - you most likely already know these items are going in transit!

    Also when creating a library card it would be good to be able to set a pop up "are you sure you wish to save a library card without (for ex) PIN code"? Sometimes you don't need that, but that is really rare.

    7 votes

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  9. We require certain information to create a library card, however Sierra does not enforce this requirement at the system level. Since it isn't mandatory, some data simply never gets captured and creates more work on the backend.

    Beyond that, having certain information in the record would allow us to build a better understanding of our usership so that we can make better decisions as an organization.

    I especially would love the ability to require any and all of the fixed-length fields; especially patron category, birthdate, home library, and notice preference.

    16 votes

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  10. Currently Decision Center only returns data for a location parameter if there was activity for the selected time period and does not return a zero placeholder for locations without activity. This creates extra work for staff when working with the resulting Excel files. They can't easily reference the cells in Excel consistently.

    14 votes

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  11. When creating a new customer record from scratch, or when updating & finalizing those submitted through our online application, we have staff perform some checks to prevent duplicate records.

    They'll begin by searching the Name index to make sure that there's no pre-existing record for the same name. Then as backup, they'll try searching by birth date or phone number.

    However, when you search by birth date or phone number, the results do not come back in alphabetical order, making things a bit harder than they should be for frontline staff. See example image where the search for the DOB…

    6 votes

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  12. At present, we can only see the full name field in get patron endpoints. For some systems that connect via api, it would be highly beneficial to have other fields available relating to patron information. For example, separated first and last names.

    This is due the some systems relying on the information it can read from Sierra and not process further to define a first name.

    4 votes

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  13. Currently once an item is placed on hold, if the patron changes the pickup location after the item has already been paged for, the item will not be paged for again. With Title Priority Paging and “Prioritizing Hold Fulfillment at the Pickup Location” settings in place, this means a patron could be waiting much longer (depending on the “Pageslips: Number of hours before page can be transferred”) for their hold, even though they have fixed their mistake and reselected their intended pickup location. Additionally, even if the old pickup location pulls the item, they won’t be able to fulfill the…

    15 votes

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  14. Our homebound customers love the Sierra reading history functionality, but tell us that they do not want the Library to give them a checkout receipt that includes an option to rate the title. They also tell us that they do not want their personal information on the receipt (and the library cannot edit the Homebound receipt template).

    Additionally, circulation staff workflows are hindered because if a stack of homebound items are returned, they have to use the keyboard / mouse to move past the checkin rating prompts.

    5 votes

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  15. Once a user is created in the admin app, you are not able to update the username. You may update the password, permissions, etc., but not the username itself.

    All of our clerk-level positions are part-time, so there is a lot of turnover. Each time an employee leaves, his/her account must be deleted and a new one created for the replacement. When the new account is created, you then must import all of the permissions, options, locations served, etc., of a comparable employee for the same location.

    Ideally, we would simply be able to edit the username and password and…

    64 votes

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  16. Currently, on Sierra it is possible to block patrons based on overdue penalty points (OD PENALTY) when they check in or renew overdue items. This is done with the patron fixed field OD PENALTY. The system calculates the penalty points that have to be added to the patron record and when a patron exceeds the maximum number of penalty points allowed by the library, the patron is blocked. More info at https://documentation.iii.com/sierrahelp/Default.htm#sgcir/sgcir_fine_penaltypoints.html

    THis feature is very useful. Wouldn't it be a good idea to be able to apply a similar strategy for patrons that request a hold on a bib/item…

    9 votes

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  17. Sometimes we want to update a patron record and blank out a date in the expiry date field for a continuing staff member.

    The patron API cannot do this - blank values are rejected as invalid JSON e.g.

    {"expirationDate": " - - "}
    {"expirationDate": ""}
    {"expirationDate": "--"}
    {"expirationDate": "null"}

    All we can do is add a date, and for continuing staff we can only use the maximum possible date of 18 Jan 2038.

    Enhance the API to accept a blank value in expiry date.

    5 votes

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  18. Several years ago we adopted context logins. We have established that a 1 tier login will not work for us.

    CURRENT STATE : Our Regional Library consists of 39 branches in almost as many cities. To distinguish the branch of our Sierra users we currently use a two-tiered login. This login process allows us to continue to use generic branch accounts while meeting our obligations to protect customer information. The two-tiered login allows us to collect branch-specific data and apply unique user settings, options, and settings.

    The drawback is that our staff must login twice and it may pose an…

    6 votes

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  19. When staff opens a patron's record, add a shortcut feature that allows them to print out patron barcodes. This will really help when someone comes in and don't have their library card with them, so wants to get their barcode information

    6 votes

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  20. It is currently an option to be able to set the default view of an item record across Sierra. However, it would be nice to be able to have a different default view set for the different functions in Sierra.

    For example:
    When in the Circulation function - I'd prefer the default view to be Hold.
    When in the Cataloging function - I'd prefer the default view to be Item.
    When in the Acquisitions function - I'd prefer the default view to be Order.

    I understand that I could just have multiple windows open and set the default view differently…

    21 votes

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