MnLINK VDX Blog

This is an important issue that relates to everyone.  I get this regularly from people where they say “what happened to the requests I placed at my library”?  Because of the way we utilize the system Sign In authentication, sometimes people are confused.  The Sign In Pickup Location of My Library will authenticate your library card for the home library system, UNLESS you are using a computer at an IP authenticated alternate library system.  What happened in this case, the user has a card issued by Minneapolis Public Library.  When the user visits a Hennepin County Library and Signs In to the MnLINK Gateway the Pickup Location is left as the default My Library.  The system knows that the computer is inside a Hennepin County Library and automatically makes My Library the Hennepin County Library, not Minneapolis Public.  The user places requests.  When the user goes home or at work checks the status of the requests and Signs In the same way, the system now authenticates the card as Minneapolis Public.  The requests are not viewable with the card authenticating as Minneapolis Public.  If the user changes the Pickup Location to Hennepin County Library the requests are now viewable again.

Posted by Nick at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Loan vs. Copy non returnable.  These are the 2 Service Types that define whether a request will end when it is Checked In by the Lender or end when it is Received by the Borrower.  The Service Type Copy non returnable defaults for requests with the Material Type Serial.  The Service Type Loan will default for the other Material Types.  Some Serial requests will be filled with a reel of microfilm and need to be returned.  There are some other Material Types, such as Government Publication, that may be filled by a non returnable copy.  The Lender can change this in the process of Shipping or the Borrower can change this when the Receive it.

The Lender can change the Service Type after they select the Action Shipped.  Midway down the following page is the Service Type drop-down menu.  Select the appropriate option and click Submit.  You can also change the Service Type when doing Bulk Action Shipped.

The Borrower can change the Service Type after they select the Action Received.  Change the Service Type 1 drop-down menu option and click Submit.  You can also change the Service Type when doing Bulk Action Received.

Posted by Nick at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is a known issue which causes an SQL error to occur. If the UPC character string is more than 14 digits this error occurs. Most UPC codes are entered either as 10, 11 or 12 numeric digits. Sometimes there is additional information which causes the UPC field to run longer than 14 characters, such as the additional information (set) or vol. 1. The SQL error will go away if you delete all info after the numeric UPC in the UPC field, Authority field and Key field. The issue has been forwarded to OCLC PICA development to fix.

Posted by Nick at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is an issue with request title searching. This only affects requests placed prior to the upgrade. Requests placed since the upgrade should not be affected by the title searching problem.

You may want to try searching by author or ISBN instead of title if you can’t find something. Use the Request Advanced Search option. Select the Borrower or Lender radio button to help limit your search. You may need to further limit by checking the Display Not Supplied requests box or selecting the Authorization Status of Complete. Choose the option of Author or ISBN from the drop-down menu options and enter your search term. If you choose to search by author you may want to try truncation like with title searching, for example %grisham.

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Posted by Nick at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've heard occasionally that some libraries aren't responding to questions in a timely manner. When you don't respond to messages or perform a responsive action you may be putting people at another library in a tough situation. For example, when your Lender Cancel Pending queue has requests in the file it is very important to respond. If you do not give a responsive action, the end user can't request another item.

It's also very important to respond to Borrower Conditional requests. Make sure to perform the responsive action Conditional Reply-Yes or No. Do not just send a Message or the other party will not be able to update the request. If you are contacting your patron for more information you may want to change the Authorization to Acknowledged for the request as a way to let yourself know that something has been done. You can do this by selecting the Acknowledge button on the results display. Do something to move the request along, because someone has taken the time to ask you a question and they are now waiting for a response.

Renewals are a similar matter. As I explain in detail with my Sept. 26 blog posting http://blogs.minitex.umn.edu/mnlink/2006/09/renewals.html if you don't respond to a renewal request it is common practice to assume that the renewal has been granted.

The Messages at the bottom of the Lender and Borrower queues may also require a response. When one party chooses the Message option it will show up here. At the very least there will be some communication that will need to be followed up on with these Messages.

If you have any questions about this posting or any others, don't hesitate to contact me. If you find that you are always struggling to catch up on your workload, please let me know. I'll try to help in any way I can.

Posted by Nick at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Conditional requests can be helpful in getting a request filled with the correct material or to check if an alternate version is OK. As a Lender when you choose the Answer Conditional option there are a couple of important things to remember to make the process work correctly.

First, it is important to clearly state what your conditional question is. There is a list of Reasons in a drop-down menu when you select Answer Conditional, but it is better to add a note. You can do both. When you add a note, leave the New Note Type as ToCurrnt Lndr.

Second, your conditional request will expire the next day if you do not change the Answer Date. I would suggest that you add 14 days to the Answer Date. 2 weeks should be enough time for the end user to be contacted and the Borrower to respond. If the Conditional expires the request will move on to the next lender in the rota. The Borrower will see the Answer Date information in the Audit Answer Details and also in the Service tab it will display as Date in Answer.

Posted by Nick at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bulk Action for requests can be accessed in two different ways. You can Action or Complete more than a hundred items at once. Remember that the more items you Bulk Action, the longer it will take to process.

One way to use Bulk Action is to first select the Requests button, and then select the Bulk Action option at the top of the screen. You would use this method when you will be scanning or manually entering barcodes into the ILL Numbers box. If you're scanning numbers it will likely enter a new number on a new line. If you're typing numbers in, you can just separate each number with a space. When you have populated the box with the request numbers you would like to Action, choose the appropriate Action from the drop-down menu and click Submit.

The other method for using Bulk Action is to bring up a Work Queue file, such as Borrower Not Supplied. On the far right hand side of the screen check the boxes of the items you want to Action, or use the Select all option at the top of the page. Click Submit when you have all the items you want to Bulk Action. The request numbers you have checked will populate the ILL Numbers box. Choose the appropriate Action or Complete.

After Submitting the Action, an appropriate second screen will follow. You will sometimes see the option to select Service Type. DO NOT select a Service Type from the drop down menu. If you're going to change the Service Type from Loan to Copy non returnable or vice versa, you should probably do it one at a time.

When the processing of the requests is finished, your request numbers will be listed as Successful. Occasionally some of the requests will not process correctly and they will be listed as Failed. Requests will come back as Failed if the Action was not valid for that specific request or if there was some other problem with the request.

Make sure to assign the Due Date if you are marking the item Shipped.

If you are using the Action ANSWER NONSUPPLY don't forget to select a reason. In the past I have had some people ask me about the reason and I suggested that it wasn't that important. I have come to realize that it is very important to add a reason if possible. Many libraries forward this information to their users.

When using Bulk Action for Returns (or any time you process Returns), it is very important to make sure that the paperwork matches the item you are Returning. Also make sure all parts are included.

Posted by Nick at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hear from some of you from time to time about the wrong item being sent with a request. You ask, what can we do to eliminate these errors.

The Pick slips generally have all of the information that we should need to identify a specific item that is being requested. The information that is on the Pick slip comes from the bibliographic record chosen by the end user. This can be found by looking at the Database/# line on the Pick slip. The Title line should display the title and the subtitle and series information. The rest of the information on the Pick slips is fairly self explanatory. Remember to look at the Request notes to see what special instructions have been provided to assist in filling the request with the correct item. Occasionally with compact discs your catalog will have more than one title match for classical music and other CDs. Look at the Publisher Info to make sure that you have the correct item. Look at the Description to make sure the item has the correct number of discs. The Database/# line will also have a publisher number for the requested item. All of these together will help you supply the correct item.

Sometimes there just isn't enough information on the Pick slip to identify what is needed. This would be a good time to use Conditional and ask for more specific information. As important as it is to use Conditional to ask for more information, it is equally important to respond in a timely manner to Conditional questions as a Borrower. For more information about using Conditional check out my June 20, 2006 posting. http://blogs.minitex.umn.edu/mnlink/conditional_requests/

Posted by Nick at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Question: I know this has been covered many times before, but I don’t remember the answer to the question. A request comes back as non-supplied. How long is that information accessible on MnLINK so the patron can check their account and see that the item is not available anywhere?

Response: Once the last possible lender in the rota responds ANSWER NONSUPPLY the request moves into the Borrower’s Not Supplied work queue. In ZPortal they do not see Not Supplied, the user sees the status Currently unavailable through MnLINK. 30 days after the request moves into the Borrower Not Supplied queue the system will automatically Complete the request. Your library has the option of Completing the request sooner. Once the request is marked Complete, either manually by your library or with the 30 day default Complete, the request is no longer viewable by your user in their ZPortal account.

Just an added note, 30 days after any request has been marked Complete the Client Name and Client Barcode are removed from the Borrower Details of the request.

Posted by Nick at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Question: We have a patron who had to get a new card for some reason (old one was lost, stolen, whatever). He had placed 10-15 requests on the old card. Because that card is no longer valid in our ILS, it doesn’t validate in MnLINK. His new card validates, but there are no requests attached to it. What happens to his requests that are still in process in MnLINK? Will they ever arrive? Will we be able to connect them to him?

Response: Good question. The requests previously placed are still active. Those requests have the name and barcode used for requesting attached in the Borrower Details. You can do a Client Barcode search for that user in VDX to locate all of the requests if your user contacts you about their status, but the user can not access the account via ZPortal. On your circulation system’s end, if you remove the barcode from the user account you will only be able to match the MnLINK request up with the patron by looking at the Borrower Details. If your library leaves old barcodes attached to the patron circulation record and somehow denotes that it is invalid, you may still be able to search by the barcode on the bottom of the Pick slip depending on your system’s capabilities.

To search in VDX for Client Barcode, you can either do a Simple Search or Advanced Search, and format the search with your 3 letter code, hyphen, patron barcode (e.g. cce-22086000000000).

Posted by Nick at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)