Release date: December 2023

Summary: This release introduces 3 new features, 8 enhancements/improvements and 2 bug fixes.

New features

Ability to check for and manage duplicate requests

• A new setting in Settings>Resource Sharing>Autoresponder titled ‘The number of hours post-creation in which to check for a duplicate of any given request’ allows a tenant to trap duplicate requests in ReShare. The value entered in the field is measured in hours. Any value greater than 0 will invoke the duplicate check. The duplicate check occurs on the incoming patron id and shared catalog record ID / cluster ID of the request. If the same two values are submitted for subsequent requests within the configured time frame, the subsequent requests will be put into a state of Requires review - possible duplicate. Staff have the ability to review and either approve the duplicate request or cancel the duplicate request.

  • Adding “Duplicate request” to Resource Sharing Settings > Other Settings > Cancellation reasons will enable staff to:

    • select “Duplicate request” as a reason for cancellation when canceling a request; which will in turn

    • specify “Duplicate request” as the reason for cancellation in the notice to the patron.

  • Note that bypassing patron validation will also bypass the duplicate request check.

Option to send the supplier’s item barcode(s) in the NCIP Accept Item message instead of the request number

• A new setting in Settings>Resource Sharing>Local NCIP settings titled ‘Use item barcode for Accept Item’ allows a tenant to use the supplier’s item barcode(s) in the NCIP Accept Item message instead of the request number to be used for the temporary item barcode when creating the brief/virtual item in their ILS. If the item barcode already exists in the ILS, the NCIP Accept Item will fail with a 'Barcode already exists' error. It is advised that libraries continually delete temporary items from their ILS to avoid this problem.

Ability to update the full metadata for an existing request to point to a different record in the shared catalog and resubmit the request back into the system

• Requests at an ‘end of rota’ or ‘cancelled’ state can be revised (i.e., linked to a different record in the shared catalog) and resubmitted as a new request, using the ‘Create revised request’ action. A new request number will be assigned and a new rota will be generated. If the original request was at ‘end of rota’, the state will be changed to ‘End of rota - reviewed’ so staff will know that the request has already been reviewed for re-submission. Each request will display a new link next to ‘View in shared index’: ‘Based on a previous request’ or ‘Succeeded by a new request’, as appropriate.

• Requests that are still active can also be revised and resubmitted, but only under the following conditions: the request must not have been filled yet, and staff must cancel the current request and use ‘Create revised request’ update the metadata/link to a different record in the shared catalog.

Enhancements/Improvements

Directory app updated to sort alphabetically by institution by default

• When accessing the Directory app, the results will now be filtered by institution and sorted alphabetically by default to provide easier access to information. Selecting any institution record will bring up the details of all its associated branches.

‘New’ button in the top right corner of Request app changed to ‘Create patron request’

• The button titled ‘New’ in the top right hand corner of the Request app was changed to read ‘Create patron request’ to more clearly reflect what the button is used for.

‘Populate from shared index’ button on Create patron request form changed to ‘Search shared catalog’

• The button titled ‘Populate from shared index’ on the form used to search for and pull in data when creating a patron request was changed to ‘Search shared catalog’ to more clearly reflect the action being taken.

Better search access and results information provided when searching shared catalog to create a request on behalf of a patron

• When using the ‘Search shared catalog’ option when creating a patron request from the staff interface, staff can now search on the same fields available to them in VuFind. These include general keyword ('all fields'), title, author, subject, call number, ISBN/ISSN and tag. In addition, results will now display columns for title, author/contributor, edition, format and description.

‘Use to fill form’ button added to the Create patron request form

• A new button titled ‘Use to fill form’ was added to the ‘System identifier’ field in the Create patron request form. This will allow staff who are creating a request on behalf of a patron to use VuFind to search for the title the patron wishes to request, copy the system identifier from the VuFind URL and paste it into the ‘System identifier’ field in the Create patron request form. Clicking ‘Use to fill form’ will populate the remaining citation data for the request automatically.

Pop-over static text labels added for the Chat and Tags icons that appear in the top right hand corner when viewing a request.

• Static text labels ‘Request messages’ (for the chat icon) and ‘Show tags’ (for the tags icon) were added to help clearly identify what the icons represented. In addition, the messages pane was improved to add a wider box at the bottom for entering new messages, and a label reading ‘Messages will appear here' is displayed on requests that have no messages yet, in order to distinguish the message pane from the active request pane more prominently.

Radio button-like empty circle icon that preceded actions listed under More options replaced with >>

• Any action that was preceded by a radio button like empty circle icon under ‘More options’ in both the Request and Supply apps was replaced with >> to make it clearer that the icons were not actual radio buttons.

Confirmation/Error message that appears on screen after an action is taken to remain longer

• When staff take an action on a request in either the Request or Supply app, the confirmation/error message that appears in the bottom right hand corner of the screen has been configured to remain for 9 seconds. It previously remained for 5 seconds.

Bug Fixes

SQL Error when populating Protocol Information for autoresponder and rota building messages when ILS is WMS

• When populating the protocol information table with autoresponder and/or rota building messages when the ILS is WMS, the data exceeded 255 characters and would cause an error in the system affecting the request from moving to the proper state.

Certain states were not being taken into consideration when calculating ‘Active borrows’ and ‘Active loans’ for load balancing

• Certain states were not being taken into consideration when calculating the ‘Active borrows’ and ‘Active loans’ counts for tenant load balancing. The code has been updated to have ‘Active borrows’ be determined by the number of requests in the following states: In local circulation process, Loaned digitally, Awaiting return shipping, and Overdue. ‘Active loans’ will be determined by the number of requests in the following states: Awaiting shipping, Shipped, Return shipped, Loaned digitally, Awaiting desequestration, and Overdue.