[iBorrow] New iborrow build--Update

[Al Carlson]

URSA/iBorrow Users

By now you know that you can ignore this email if you neither work with
nor supervise someone who works with iBorrow.  And that I'll be sending
it to several distribution lists to make sure 'everyone' gets it.  So,
you may get multiple copies.  Sorry 'bout that.

So far, the new build seems to be a success.  I've toured through the
'catalog level' locations this morning, and I've found no over-age
requests in Fill Loan or Mediate Loan.
Whew!!

So, let's quickly review last week and then move on.
You know that the OCLC tools in URSA now seem to be working exactly as
they should.  If YOU find they are NOT, please tell me ASAP.
You also know about the "secret code" you need in Fill Loan to over-ride
URSA/iBorrow's fear that you may have filled a request with the (GASP!)
wrong item.
(The secret code is "Left Arrow Key" to make "YES" clickable.  Tell all
your friends.)

I told you before the build that requests being filled by OCLC would be
labeled 'External".  That's true, but not quite the way I thought it
would be.  
To see it, go to Receive Loan in your URSA client.  Find a request with
an OCLC Review Number.  Double click it.  Click on the History tab.
Look under the Event heading.  Voila!

This last part is primarily for Sunline libraries, but the rest of you
are welcome to read it, too.
When a patron makes a request through the Portal, URSA does a background
search (usually using ISBN) to find an available copy.
If it thinks there is an available copy at a Sunline Library, but if it
cannot successfully place a Hold (NCIP error, bad karma), it puts the
request in the Mediate Loan workspace at the Sunline/catalog level.
Since no specific Sunline library has the responsibility of monitoring
that work space, requests have piled up there.
In the past, I would push them out in batches by Declining them when I
had time to work on that.  Because Aging was broken, there were always
old requests there.
Now that Aging is working, I want to try a new approach.
As time allows, Matt and I will look at the requests in Sunline Mediate
Loan and search them in Suncat.  If we find a copy on the shelf, we will
'push' the request from the Sunline level to the owning library's level.
In other words, we'll share out the work.
So, if you see a title appear in your Mediate Incoming Loan work space
of Request Manager, it means we think you have an available copy.
If you really do, we'd like you to fill the request.
If you don't-either because Suncat was wrong or because you can't loan
that particular item-just Decline it.

We're doing this only for Sunline, because it is irrelevant at Pinellas
Park, Hillsborough, and Lee, and because Polk has someone doing the same
thing for their system.
We're not yet sure what the best way will be for Palm Harbor, Citrus,
and Hernando.

Questions about any of this?
You know who to contact!

Al Carlson
System Administrator
Tampa Bay Library Consortium
1202 Tech Blvd. Suite 202
Tampa, FL  33619
813-622-8252 ext. 223

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