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97 results found

  1. The problem that's prompting this suggestion:
    I work at Gondor Library. An item arrives from Rohan Library (outside of scope) to fulfill a hold for my Gondor patron. But staff notices it has damage that has NOT been noted in the record (or on the physical object).

    Gondor staff have two choices.
    a) the damage is extensive enough that we decide to not fulfill the hold and send it back to the owning library, Rohan.
    b) we use our judgement to decide whether the Rohan book's damage is minor enough to fulfill the hold.
    For example, only light stains on…

    17 votes

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  2. Since becoming a III customer in 2008/2009, it's baffled me that we don't see a representation of the total number of notices sent daily via autonotices, but instead see the Notice History feature, which shows the number of items for which notices are sent.

    I think it would be far more useful for statistical purposes if the number of notices sent for each notice type was what's recorded & shared by Sierra.

    11 votes

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  3. The current documentation on loan rules, loan rule determiner, and float determiner table is very limited, and training on these important functions do not exist within Innovative's training & learning center. More comprehensive documentation with examples would help libraries better manage loan rules, and perhaps simplify how libraries' existing rules are setup.

    15 votes

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  4. Why is it important to link patrons?

    • Without linked patron functionality someone that is authorized to pick up a hold on another account is complicated. This is manually done by staff using patron notes, and the authorized patron signs out the book leaving the original hold on the other patron record.
    • Parents visiting the library with children would like to jump to the record of each child rather than using the child’s cards.

    Current privacy and circulation workflow issues:

    • Someone could link to the child record without authorization. If a patron is sharing their circulation details with someone, they should…
    7 votes

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  5. That way other devices such as self checks can show that warning to the patron in the case of them checking out items and having the due date shortened to their expiration date instead of the full borrowing period for the item. If they were alerted they could contact staff to update their account and any item due dates that were shortened to their prior expiration date.

    7 votes

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  6. We are needing a way to update the inventory date field when an item is checked-in using the "checkin no patron" function.
    When an item that is already in "-" available status, and you check-in the item, there is no field in the item record that records the date of this transaction. We are wanting a checkbox on the screen in that function that when checked, will update the item inventory date so that we can then see the last time that item was scanned.
    This will help us with our inventory projects, as we do a full scan of…

    26 votes

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  7. Someone at CHPL is suffering from Polaris envy & suggested Sierra offer a comparable record to copy/duplicate patron records. They're hoping for a way to speed up the record creation process for families of 5 or 6 that visit the library together & all need to register for cards, which is apparently not an uncommon scenario. The ability to quickly replicate certain fields (address, home library, maybe phone, e-mail, etc.) from one record for x more should facilitate that.

    16 votes

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  8. We'd like the ability to customise the font size of the text in Sierra popup messages i.e, increase font of where items are going to be picked up, or making the destination in the top part of the message stand out? Or removing call number which we do not use.

    12 votes

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  9. 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…

    7 votes

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  10. 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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  11. 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.

    4 votes

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  12. Circulation staff would like to see "did you mean" logic applied to the SDA keyword search. This is the top complaint from circulation staff who search the database to help customers place holds. Staff are used to a Google (or Discovery Catalogue) keyword search that has some flexibility for human error.

    9 votes

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  13. Our patrons are curious about their loan history. They would like to sort it by author or title in addition to the checkout date. We have told them to export it. But exporting the checkout history loses the checkout date! Could more sorting possibilities be added to the catalogue and checkout date added when exporting?

    6 votes

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  14. We have been considering enabling the display of the free text Message field in patron records in the WebPac (& a corresponding tab in Bibliocommons). It seems like an easy & useful way to quickly & effectively communicate with customers on issues related to their account.

    For example, we might want to create a list of patron records at a library location that is closing for renovation to let them know that for the duration of the closing, their holds will be routed to another nearby branch. We'd apply the message to impacted patron records for as long as it's…

    10 votes

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  15. During the Circulation Forum at this week's IUG, a few libraries brought up their continued interest in going fine free, but also shared how they still faced challenges within their respective institutions from those who felt materials would not come back.

    This is a realistic concern, especially for libraries that couple going fine free with the protracted loan periods made possible by autorenewals. It can sometimes be challenging to get customers to return things, so we appreciate the availability of patron blocks that will prevent checkouts, renewals, etc., but not penalize a customer financially, like the ability to suspend borrowing…

    7 votes

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  16. The element PatronName in the Item Paging Slip & Item Paging List Data library be broken up into Patronfirstname and patronlast_name elements like in the hold/transit slip data libraries.

    3 votes

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  17. 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.

    6 votes

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  18. 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

    4 votes

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  19. In Sierra we have to add additional e-mail addresses comma separated in the same field for Print template notices to be sent to more than one address.
    Right now we are implementing Vega Discover and there patrons can add additional e-mail addresses. They end up in separate e-mail fields in Sierra though and doesn´t work for Print template notices.
    The integration built for us between IMMS and Sierra does pick up addresses from all e-mail fields to send out pick up notices for holds.

    So it would be great if this could also be the case for Print template-notices from…

    10 votes

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  20. We have three pickup locations: lockers, curbside and hold pickup shelves inside the library. For our Library of Things item type we would want to eliminate the lockers as an option because they cannot hold those items because of space.

    9 votes

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