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120 results found

  1. Idea: create a new status that references a scheduled booking for an item.

    Value: Currently, Sierra does not change the status of an item that has a scheduled booking. When using the API to reflect the status of an item on a catalog, the item will show as status - (On Shelf) even though the item is not available because it has a scheduled booking for that time. This makes it seem as if the item can be scheduled for a specific time when it is already booked. When an item has a booking, changing the status to "Booked" when…

    2 votes

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  2. By default in the SDA, items are blocked from renewal if a hold is placed on the associated title or volume.

    If the Renew Title Holds feature is enabled, the system gives you the option to OVERRIDE the block on renewing held titles and volumes. The system does not consider frozen holds when blocking items from renewal.

    Staff will always select "yes" to a renewal if there is an available item. They do not want to continually select "override" when they are renewing multiple holds.

    Can there be an option to always renew if there is an available item (without…

    4 votes

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  3. 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…

    30 votes

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  4. 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…

    23 votes

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  5. Our library recently started using LX Starter, which includes merge tags for the hold pickup location and expiration date in its template for hold cancellation notices. However, we've been told that Sierra doesn't pass this information to LX Starter and therefore this information can't be included in our cancellation emails. We would like to have this information added so we can provide additional information to our patrons about when and where their holds expired.

    15 votes

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  6. We can’t use this button because we don’t use print templates for our bills.
    We would prefer them to look pretty with Print Templates instead of the plain text we currently have. To avoid staff confusion, it would be great if this we had the ability to disable/grey out this button.

    3 votes

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  7. Update the "last checkin" field every time an item is checked in. Now, when you check in an item, the "last checkin" field is not updated if the item is not checked out. I don't know of any reason to not update it. When I look at an item record, I want to know the last date that the item was seen; this can be useful in tracking down items that seem to be missing, or coming up with a list of items that might be missing.

    8 votes

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  8. 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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  9. 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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  10. 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.

    17 votes

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  11. 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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  12. 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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  13. 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…

    28 votes

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  14. 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.

    18 votes

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  15. 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.

    13 votes

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  16. 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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  17. 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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  18. 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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  19. 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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  20. 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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