[OPEN-ILS-DEV] Circulation Menu in the Staff Client

[Laura M.]

Thanks, Elaine! :)  I had thought of this was actually wondering if the 
circ staff were actually *clicking* on the menu items or are they using 
the F1 key? If they're using the shortcut keys (as I would assume they 
would) then removing the item from the circ menu wouldn't be a problem. 

Maybe I can get a few people to survey their circ staff and ask them to 
give a detailed workflow, step-by-step of looking up a patron by 
barcode? It wouldn't surprise me to learn that 90%+ use the function 
keys, or keyboard shortcuts, but I would like to know :)

Thanks!
--Laura M.

Hardy, Elaine wrote:
> I would leave the search patron by barcode in both the search menu and 
> the circulation menu.  We would need to gather information from our 
> libraries to be sure; however, I suspect that circ staff primarily use 
> the circulation menu to access the search screens.  As Mike mentioned, 
> circ staff search for patrons for many reasons other than to check out 
> a book -- from paying fines and for services, getting the patron a 
> list of checkedout or overdue books, changing information on a patrons 
> records. Since we have so many patrons in PINES, it is usually best to 
> search using their barcode number rather than name. Moving the 
> functionality off the circ menu would likely negatively impact the 
> workflow of our library staff.
>
> As a noncirc person, if I need to look up someone quickly, I go 
> directly to the search menu since I don't want to scan through the 
> other options. So having it in both places serves different workflows.
>
> Elaine
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> J. Elaine Hardy
> PINES Bibliographic Projects & Metadata Manager
> Georgia Public Library Service
> 1800 Century Place, Ste 150
> Atlanta, Ga. 30345-4304
>
> 404.235-7128
> 404.235-7201, fax
> ehardy at georgialibraries.org
> www.georgialibraries.org
> www.georgialibraries.org/pines <http://www.georgialibraries.org/pines>
>
>