243 results found
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Include Individual Item Costs in Overdue Notices
Make it an option to also include the item cost in the overdue notice as well (incentive to return!).
In our date due slips (JasperSoft) we include the cost of each item and a total cost to show what the patron saved by using the library vs. buying.
61 votesThe product team will review this idea for consideration for a future release.
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Automatically add date/timestamp to Notes and Messages
It would be helpful if the system automatically added a date/timestamp to Notes and Messages added to Patron and Item records by staff. Currently, we ask our staff to always add thier initials and date to notes and messages when adding them but it doesn't always happen. There are also inconsistnecies in how these are added and no easy way to search for them. We also find that notes/messages are not always removed after they are addressed.
If we had an accurate way to determine the date a note/message was added, it would be possible to develop a retention policy…
59 votes -
Remove duplicate items on paging list
Duplicate instances of a single item frequently appear on Bib Paging Lists resulting in confusion and either wasted paper (up to 7 pages were printed for a single item once) or wasted time deleting those lines before printing. There is no need for the paging list to alert us to multiple holds for any item, especially if we can't physically fulfill those holds.
46 votes -
Mark damaged items improvements
There are two things we would like to see in the Mark Damaged Items process. First we need a separate notice text for damaged items. We are trying to differentiate between lost and damaged and having to use the same notice text is problematic. Second, we'd like the status after the bill is paid to be Damaged & Paid (just like Lost & Paid) instead of just Damaged, as staff can't tell if this is an initial damaged status or one that has been paid for. These are handled differently and being able to create a list, for example, of…
45 votes -
Remove patrons from hold queue when they check out non-holdable copy
Problem: Many patrons have holds on titles in Quick Pick or Lucky Day collections. When they "get lucky" and check out one of these non-holdable copies their original hold remains in the queue and the patron often neglects to cancel their hold.
Impact: Fulfilling these unnecessary holds wastes time for staff and patrons and delays trigging other patrons' holds as the item sits on the holdshelf until the expiration date. Collection budgets are also negatively impacted as these unnecessary holds can skew the item-to-holds ratio for high-demand items that selectors use to determine how many additional copies to purchase.
Solution:…
45 votesThe product manager will review this idea for possible inclusion in a future release.
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Clarify Fines Payment Lock Messaging
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).
43 votes -
Create Lists - Saved Searches - Ability to Rename, Show Creator, Last Used
We repeatedly run up against our limit of saved searches in Create Lists. There are probably saved queries created long ago that no one is using/needs. I was hoping to assign staff to review the queries and put their initials in the saved search name, but when you go to Edit, you can only edit the query, not the query name (like you can a review file). Ideally it would work like the review files themselves, when you can see who last ran the list (initials, date and time). And perhaps apply the "Own" option. This would really help to…
42 votesThe product team will review this idea for consideration for a future release.
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Improve/Standardize Information Available When Viewing Holds
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…
39 votesThe product team will review this idea for consideration for a future release.
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Hold Pickup Reminder/Courtesy Notice
Idea: Create an additional notice type, Hold Pickup Reminder/Courtesy, that can be configured to send a reminder notice to patrons that they have a hold ready for pickup that is about to expire, similar to the courtesy notice for checked-out items.
Relevance: When you place an order for pickup at most other businesses, you are sent a reminder email before the pickup deadline that the item is ready for pickup. Libraries would benefit from a similar option, especially those that use hold pickup lockers where there is limited space for holds. This way, if a patron decides they don't want…
37 votesThe product team will review this idea for consideration for a future release.
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Alerts for when indexing stops
Currently there are no alerts when indexing stops working. We would like to see some put in place.
We recently had our keyword indexing stop working. It wasn't completely obvious to us for few months that there was a problem with indexing as it didn't seem to be every record.
Idea Value
Having an alert to III would save time troubleshooting if it's a metadata problem and raising tickets for something that could have an alert on it.37 votes -
Have system-generated review files appear in the drop-down list in Global/Rapid Update
Idea Description
If system generated review files could appear in Global Update/Rapid Update Review File dropdown list without even downloading them to Create Lists first that would save so much time.It's a normal part of my daily workflow to upload records using Mobile Worklists or Data Exchange, copy them into Create Lists and manipulate the file in Global or Rapid Update.
Idea Value
With the file appearing in the dropdown list in Global/Rapid update, the file can be manipulated as usual AND users wouldn't have to remember to empty the Review File (which was only created so it could…36 votes -
Passing the UPC Code
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.
35 votesThe product team will review this idea for consideration for a future release.
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Offer the ability to retain a patron's receipt preference at checkout
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.
35 votesThe product team will review this idea for consideration for a future release.
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Allow holds on bibs when holdable items are on order
We have a non-holdable lucky day collection whose items are on the same bib as our regular, holdable copies of those titles. Sierra allows patrons to place holds on titles that are on order, but sometimes the non-holdable copies are the first to arrive -- at which point, Sierra sees that all items on the record are non-holdable, and stops allowing holds until the first holdable copies come in.
Innovative recommended splitting nonholdable items onto a separate bib record, which seems liable to clutter up the catalog; moreover, some of these items are likely to be moved into our regular…
33 votesThe product team will review this idea for consideration for a future release.
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Provide indicator/warning when an order record has already been sent to a vendor
In the print/send orders function, it can be easy to accidentally upload an order to a vendor multiple times. As a means to mitigate this error I propose a two part feature.
As a first step, the system should provide some indication when viewing the orders to ftp queue if an order has already been ftp'd once. I could see two methods for accomplishing this. 1) Add a column to the queue display for sent date, taking the most recent date present that has been appended to the ISBN pick field in a record from having been previously sent. 2)…
31 votesThis idea will be reviewed for consideration as an enhancement in an upcoming release.
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Make OpenAPI definition document (previously known as Swagger specification) available for Sierra's APIs
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.jsonBenefits of an OpenAPI Definition Document:
…* Standardization: Provides a consistent format30 votesThe product team will review this idea for consideration for a future release.
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Allow Pickup Location Changes After Hold Is Activated (with Optional Patron Notification)
In Sierra, once a hold is activated, the pickup location becomes locked. This occurs even if an error happens or the original location becomes unavailable. The limitation creates workflow issues for libraries that use lockers, shared delivery systems, or multiple branches.
We are requesting a system enhancement that allows authorized staff to edit the pickup location of a hold after it has been activated, but before it is checked out or expires.
-Why This Is Needed:
Locker and space-based workflows: Staff may discover after trapping a hold that a locker is full or not functioning. At that point, there is…
29 votes -
2038 issue
We use the patron's 18th birthday as their youth card expiration date. Due to the Year 2038 issue we have been unable to add the correct date for several years now. We would really like to be able to have (any/all) date fields updated so we can begin to record accurate future dates again.
29 votesThe product team will review this idea for consideration for a future release.
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Improve patron address parser to better map data to the patron_record_address table
Sierra has a mechanism for parsing the free text entered into patron address fields in the client into separate fields for elements such as city/state/postal code that exist in the patronrecordaddress table. Those distinct fields may then be searched in create lists or utilized in SQL queries. However, the algorithm used to parse out those data points is extremely rigid in terms of the data it expects to see and is quite prone to mapping data incorrectly if an address entered into a patron record does not conform to those guidelines.
For one common example in our system…
27 votes -
Save title and author info in reading history after title is deleted
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.
27 votes
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