[OPEN-ILS-DEV] Feature Request: Roaming Items, Automatic Item Location Changing

[Ryan Eby]

Coming in a little late to the conversation, thanks to phasefx for
pointing me to the old messages. I'm also a little ignorant on the
data and logic models of evergreen as I'm just starting to look deeper
into it, so apologies for any dumb assumptions. I'm still working on a
more thorough email about our experience but here's a little bit to
keep the conversation alive.

In the simplest sense, roaming items are like an unconference, items
vote with their feet and if they are there they belong. We roam high
turnover items like dvds and cds though, and they seem to complicate
things, especially with some of the return patterns that evolve. For
example a good storytime can wipe out a chunk of a youth dvd
collection only to have them all returned at another branch a week or
so later when another popular storytime is held there. You would want
returns from other locations to go to the wiped out location in the
meantime to keep the shelves stocked. And then at the branch that the
returns hit have more involved workflow to see what branches need
items, have duplicates, have demand for the item, holds, etc. The home
library may be full or have no real meaning in this sort of system. I
guess this would be more of a free for all with the home location
really being the starting point. Having the ability to have granular
inventory caps and workflows could be really helpful in this case. I'm
not supposing an easy interface to such a thing but having minimal
places to modify the logic could be useful in implementing it on the
code customization side. Overall I agree with the original post
thought I think the example above shows that the balancing/inventory
should have some importance.

Again, I'll send a more detailed email on some use cases and issues
we've ran into with our current setup in the future.

Ryan Eby
System Administrator
Ann Arbor District Library