MnLINK VDX Blog

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)

We don't want to penalize our users for problems on our end. They don't always understand all of the intricacies that go on behind the scenes to make their material appear at their library.

This situation arose the other day. A request is Shipped by the Lender to the Borrower. The material subsequently is lost while in transit to the Borrower. This request will continue to count against the user's request limit until the request is removed from your patron's account.

An option would be to remove the patron name from the request. You can not delete the patron name from a request, but you can replace it. To do this you would need to have a valid library card. Most likely you would use a dummy or test card. You need to choose Local Change Request Details as the Action. Select the Borrower tab and enter the new card number in the Client Barcode box and click on the Validate button. This should change the Client Name and in turn remove the item from the previous patron when you click on the Submit button.

Another option would be for the Borrower to manually Complete the request. It is usually not a good idea to Complete an active request. Completing the request will remove the request from the user's account, but it will still be open for the Lender. You may want to add a Local Note with an explanation about why the request is Complete. If the Lender sends a Message, the request will reopen for the Borrower even though it has been Completed.

Posted by Nick at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Has anyone else notice the rise in Cancelled requests since the introduction of the Cancel option on the ZPortal? These requests need to be manually completed out of the Borrower Work Queue. Unless you are planning on sending a notification about these Cancelled requests, the process is very easy. The vast majority of these Cancelled requests had the process initiated by the requester.

To start, click on the corresponding number for Cancelled in the Borrower Work Queue. The patron initiated cancellations are usually the ones which have the red note "Request No Longer Required". Select the Bulk Action option of Select all at the top of the page. On the right hand side of the screen you can uncheck any Bulk box that you do not want to Bulk Action. If you have more than one page of results, go to the next page and repeat these steps. You can easily Complete more than a hundred requests at once. When you have selected all of the requests you want to Complete, click Submit. When the Bulk Action screen appears, select the Complete button on the lower left side of the screen. Completing requests does not take as long to process as performing an Action on more that 100 requests. If you do this every couple of days, it should only take you a couple of minutes.

Posted by Nick at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have a patron who has about 14 items returned quite a while ago in MNLINK. The system won't allow him to place anymore requests because it thinks he is above our 20 item limit. Is there any way that his MNLINK record could be manually cleared?

This is a good question about what is the proper way to clean up those requests that have been returned awhile ago, but were never Checked In. We will always have these items slip through the cracks because the paperwork was missing or just not noticed in the Returned request.

Here’s what I suggest, first choose the Action of Message on a request that has been returned. When the new screen opens you can leave the New Note Type as is and add a note to the New Note box. Your note should say something like "we returned this item on 6/29, would you please check your shelves to confirm this item has been returned and then Check In on VDX". This will put a message in their Lender Queue Message file.

It is important to be monitoring the Message file in both the Lender and the Borrower Work Queue. When there is a request in this file someone is likely awaiting a specific response, much like if a request was Conditional or Renewal.

There is also the option to call or email each library about the requests in question. You can find detailed contact information in the MINITEX ILL Policy Database. You can find the search page here: http://www.minitex.umn.edu/illpolicy/search.asp

If anyone has any questions or some other ideas about how these requests should be handled, please let me know.

Thanks for asking Steve, this was a great question!

Posted by Nick at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is very important to keep the requests moving through your Lender In Process file. You may need to check the file on a regular basis to make sure that requests don’t end up sitting there. Set a timeframe that is reasonable for your location and if your institution hasn’t filled the request, just mark it Not Supplied and give someone else a chance. You can easily sort the requests to present the oldest requests first.

First choose the Requests option to bring up the Advanced Search screen. Scroll down in the Status box and choose In Process. The Status box is directly below the Reset Form button at the top of the screen. Then at the bottom of the screen in the Sort by options select the radio button for ascending. Then select Submit. This will bring up the oldest Lending In Process request first.

If you have any comments, questions or ideas that I should write about please let me know.

Posted by Nick at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)