Release date: November 2024

Summary: This release introduces 4 new features, 6 enhancements/improvements and 8 bug fixes.

New features

Internal staff notes introduced

Staff can now add or update internal staff notes in both the Request app and Supply app via the Actions menu in the top right corner of the page.
- Notes are visible only in the tenant they were created; a note intended for library staff at the partner library should use the message function, not an internal note
- Notes are viewable by all authorized users of the tenant, not just the user who entered or updated the note
- The Audit Trail will record the creation or updating of an internal note
Icons for internal staff notes and patron notes have been added for easy identification:
- The Request app and the Supply app display the icons in the upper right corner of the page (next to the message and tag icons) when present
- The Update app will also display the icons between the Request ID and Requester columns after entering the barcode if the request includes notes. There is no change to the behavior of the Update app, and does not require staff to take action or change their workflows. This optimizes returns processing, and limits reliance on external systems or messaging.
The ability to filter by requests that include an Internal staff note has been added to the Request app and Supply app.

Ability to send messages between Requester and Supplier in “Complete” & “Document delivered” states has been added

Staff can now send messages in these two terminal states so that they do not not need to email the partner library outside of the ReShare tenant.

Create revised request functionality introduced for lenders of last resort

Lenders of last resort can now create a revised request when marking a request “Cannot supply.” The lender may wish to do this if they have identified other versions of the same title in the shared inventory, with the aim of having the request filled by other potential suppliers. In this case, the lender of last resort will use a special “Cannot Supply” code that will automatically initiate a revised request with a new clusterID. No action is required on the requesting side, other than enabling the new feature (see below); the original request will go into the “Re-Requested” state (removed from the active requests list) and the revised request will proceed as a new request. The “Re-Requested” state does not trigger a patron notification.
To enable this feature, Requesting library tenants must set the new autoresponder setting: Settings > Resource Sharing > Auto responder settings > titled “Automatically re-request unfilled requests with status of 'transfer' from lender of last resort” to Yes. This will allow the lender of last resort to use the custom “Cannot Supply” code, “Transfer,” to close the current request and automatically submit a revised request with a new clusterID. The alternate clusterID has to be entered into the Note field exactly as shown below (#####=clusterID of record in Reservoir):
- transferToCluster:#################################
The lender of last resort must add “Transfer” to their Settings > Resource Sharing > Custom ISO18626 settings > Cannot supply reasons table.
A link between re-requested items and the previous request is present in both the Request and Supply app.
Note: this workflow requires a lender of last resort to be configured in the Requesting library’s settings: Settings > Resource Sharing > Request Defaults > Lenders of last resort (Comma-separated list of symbols))

Enhancements/Improvements

Requests without an HRID can be closed manually in all states

Previously, requests created without an HRID would get “stuck” and could not be actioned or closed manually. After this change, requests can be closed manually to remove them from the active requests list.
Note: Release 1.16 introduced this functionality, but it did not work for all states (e.g. “Request Sent”)

Updates to the Audit trail and Protocol messages

Added more logged messages to the Audit trail; this will make audit trails noticeably longer because many NCIP-related messages were not previously being displayed. This will facilitate troubleshooting.
Some problems had arisen where the details display would fail entirely due to unexpected characters in the protocol log. This was made more robust.
All of the XML messages in the Protocol messages section are now collapsed by default. The user can select which messages to expand and view.

Additional non-returnables functionality

Non-returnable functionality was introduced in Release 1.16; for more information, see ReShare 1.16 release notes | Non returnable functionality introduced

More tokens for non-returnable fields for patron notices have been added:
- Title of component, author of component, volume, issue and pages
Copyright type field is now required
The autoresponder has been enabled for Copy requests that include a clusterID. As a result, ReShare will perform a Z39.50 search and return location and call number automatically; staff will not have to enter the information manually in order to include it when printing a pull slip

Changes in VuFind

VuFind “My Account” can be configured with the following features

Display the number of active requests allowed (as set in Settings > Resource Sharing > Request Defaults > Maximum active requests per patron)
Display the patron’s current number of active requests
Prevent patrons from submitting additional requests once their request limit has been reached
Allow patrons to cancel requests in their active requests list (only permitted before items are shipped)
Note: these features will not be installed by default; they will only be added by special request as it has to be configured in VuFind for each consortium.

Bug Fixes

Non-returnable fixes

Previously, if the requesting library staff updated the copyright compliance code for a Copy request in their tenant it was not being saved properly. This has been fixed.
Added the ability to mark a copy request “Cannot Supply” when in the state “Awaiting pull slip printing” and “Searching (non-returnables)”
Previously, if the Cancellation autoresponder was turned off, cancellation of Copy requests did not behave as expected. After the fix, cancelling is successful in Supplier states “New”, “Searching (non returnables)”, and “Awaiting pull slip printing”
The “Document delivered” state was added on the on the requester side in order to trigger an email to be sent to the patron with the pickup URL
UI translations added for the RES_COPY_AWAIT_PICKING state; it now displays as “Searching (non-returnables)”
Duplicate “Searching” state values were present when filtering in Supply app; this has been fixed. “Searching (returnables)” and “Searching (non-returnables)” are now present and filter properly

Supply and Request app scroll reset to top of list

Previously, scrolling through a large list of results often ‘jumped’ or reset a user to the top of the list. Now users can navigate between previous and next pages of 100 requests at a time, and should be able to scroll within the page without difficulty.

Creating a revised request would not update the service type if changed

When creating a revised request, if the service type is changed from Loan to Copy or vice versa, the service type is properly set in the new request.

Issue field was not being saved in the staff tenant

Additions and modifications of the Issue field now are now being saved properly to the Patron request record.

Audit trail not displayed for old requests

Any request dated prior to 2023 would not display the audit trail. This has been fixed.

Fixed typo in audit trail message

"The reponder has manually closed this request." has been corrected to "The responder has manually closed this request."

Label added to the Update app

After calling up a request, hovering over the piece of paper icon now has the label “Go to request record”

Non-functional changes

The active state model was made configurable per tenant for each of the state model types

ReShare 1.17 release notes